Bartók's Viola Concerto: Paul Neubauer in Hong Kong
An important recoding of the Bartók Viola Concerto
If you head over to Classical Music magazines site, you'll find my repott on the 2025 Geneva Competition. It was the viola that was featured this year, and two of the three finalists played the Bartók Viola Concerto (one of whom was the winner). The experience of hearing the piece twice in one evening (the other concerto was Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher) acted as a salutary reminder of the strength of Bartók's concerto.
The piece itself has quite the history - it is a late work that was left unfinished, albeit only in the orchestration of the last 17 bars: his task was his undertaken by Tibor Serly; his vision has had doubts cast upon it, and in 1995, Peter Bartók collaborated with the soloist here, Paul Neubauer and Nelson Dellamaggiore to create this newest edition, heard here. Premiered in 1993, the Neubauer edition has become the standard.
Neubauer himself is superb, joined here by the Hong Kong Philharmonic and David Atherton. The Hong Kong orchestra is on fine form; listen to how Neubauer conveys the yearning in the first movement, and how Atherton is with him with razor-sharp precision all the way:
.. and how the contrasts in the slow movement bite furiously, while the folk elements later on have an infectious rhythm all of their own:
... when it comes to the finale, Atherton creates a dynamic environment, the woodwind beautifully on-the-ball. I just find the arrival at 1"39 on the strings a little blunted, but it's a small point; but, in balance, listen to Neubauer's harmonics and how they dance thief:
The recording is fabulous, as well it might well be with Mike Hatch as recording engineer, who captures the acoustic of Hong Kong City Hall superbly, bringing focus to his large space.
The disc is completed by the 44 Duos, Sz 98, originally for two violins and her heard in various two viola or viola and cello combinations. To me, they occupy a different side of Bartók, closer to Mikrokosmos, but the primary focus remains on the excellent performance of the Viola Concerto. Playing them a lower pitch than the original two violin format does help to bring a richness and even a sense of pathos to the agenda. Here, Neubauer is joined by Cynthia Phelps (viola 2) and Ronald Thomas (cello); the arrangements ae by Peter Bartók.
The finals of the Geneva completion can be viewed in is entirety below (there is a spoken comments in both French and English: Charlotte Gardner is the excellent English host) :
The Amazon link fo Neubauer's disc is here. Streaming below:
