Main content

Tom Service explores the extraordinarily original music of Bela Bartok and discusses Bartok's piano music with pianist Cedric Tiberghien.

Tom service explores the extraordinarily original music of Bela Bartok. This Hungarian composer, who was a contemporary of Schoenberg and Stravinsky, managed to avoid the direct influence of these two giants of modern music and created his own musical style, partly inspired by the folk music that he discovered (and recorded onto wax cylinders) in the Hungarian countryside before the First World War. His six string quartets are unmatched for their intensity and invention, and as a concert pianist himself, he wrote much groundbreaking piano music, including three concertos. Bartok's pedagogical series of pieces called Mikrokosmos is still much used by students of the piano, and Tom discusses the composer's piano music with another virtuoso pianist, CĂ©dric Tiberghien.

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Sun 14 Jan 2018 17:00

Music Played

  • Bartok

    Concerto for orchestra, 5th movement

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.
  • BĂ©la BartĂłk

    Allegro Barbaro

    Performer: Bela Bartok (piano).
    • EMI.
  • Traditional

    My poor love is ill (folk song)

    Performer: Unknown.
    • Hungaroton.
  • Bartok

    Mikrokosmos Book 1 No.12: Reflection

    Performer: Zoltan Kocsis (piano).
    • Philips.
  • Bartok

    String Quartet no.4, 1st movement

    Performer: Takács Quartet.
    • Decca.
  • BĂ©la BartĂłk

    Romanian Folk Dances

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.
  • Bartok

    Concerto for orchestra, 5th movement

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.
  • Bartok

    Mikrokosmos Book 2 No.53: In Transylvanian Style

    Performer: Zoltan Kocsis (piano).
    • Philips.
  • BĂ©la BartĂłk

    Kossuth

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.
  • Traditional

    Marry me off, mother, or IÂ’ll leave you (folk song)

    Performer: Unknown.
    • Hungaroton.
  • Brahms

    Hungarina Dance no.5 in G minor

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Antal Doráti.
    • Mercury.
  • Traditional

    My little god-daughter (folk song)

    Performer: Unknown.
    • Hungaroton.
  • Bartok

    For Children, no.1

    Performer: Zoltan Kocsis (piano).
    • Hungaroton.
  • Traditional

    The brass horseshoe of my bay steed is very shiny (folk song)

    Performer: Unknown.
    • Hungaroton.
  • Bartok

    44 Duos no.28

    Performer: Wanda Wilkomirska (violin),. Performer: Mihaly Szucs (violin).
    • Hungaroton.
  • Bartok

    Out of doors, 1st movement (with drums & pipes)

    Performer: Cedric Tiberghien (piano).
    • Hyperion.
  • Bartok

    Out of doors, 2nd movement (Barcarolla)

    Performer: Cedric Tiberghien (piano).
    • Hyperion.
  • Bartok

    Out of doors, 3rd movement (Musettes)

    Performer: Cedric Tiberghien (piano).
    • Hyperion.
  • Bartok

    Out of doors, 4th movement (The NightÂ’s Music)

    Performer: Cedric Tiberghien (piano).
    • Hyperion.
  • Bartok

    Out of doors, 5th movement (The Chase)

    Performer: Cedric Tiberghien (piano).
    • Hyperion.
  • BĂ©la BartĂłk

    Allegro Barbaro

    Performer: Bela Bartok (piano).
    • EMI.
  • Bartok

    Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, 3rd movement

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.
  • Bartok

    String Quartet no.4, 1st movement

    Performer: Takács Quartet.
    • Decca.
  • Bartok

    Piano Concerto no.2, 1st movement

    Performer: Andras Schiff (piano). Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Teldec.
  • Bartok

    Piano Concerto no.3, 1st movement

    Performer: Andras Schiff (piano). Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Teldec.
  • Bartok

    Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, 4th movement

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Performer: Ivan Fischer (conductor).
    • Philips.

Broadcast

  • Sun 14 Jan 2018 17:00

Why do we call it 'classical' music?

Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).

Six of the world's most extreme voices

From babies to Mongolian throat singers: whose voice is the most extreme of all?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How did the number 12 revolutionise music?

How Schoenberg opened a new cosmos for composers and listeners to explore.

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Why are we all addicted to bass?

Bass is everywhere, but why do we enjoy it? Join Tom Service on a journey of discovery.

Watch the animations

Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.

When does noise become music?

We like to think we can separate “noise” from “music”, but is it that simple?

Podcast