Bartok's "Contrasts"

Synopsis

In January of 1939, the famous jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman was playing each night at New York’s Paramount Theater. On today’s date that year he also appeared on the stage of Carnegie Hall.

The occasion was the American premiere of a new chamber trio by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, commissioned by Goodman at the suggestion of Bartok’s compatriot, violinist Joseph Sizgeti. The work was billed as a two-movement “Rhapsody” for clarinet, violin and piano.

Now, in 1939 Goodman was at the peak of his popularity with the swing-crazed youth of America, and the New York Times music critic felt the need to write: “There is no indication that Bartok wrote the clarinet part for Benny’s clarinet, so jitterbugs reading this review have been simply wasting their time. The work is as Hungarian as goulash, and Mr. Goodman was artist enough to restrain himself from any insinuation of swing. Indeed, considering that he had probably left the stage of the Paramount Theatre some minutes before he appeared on that of Carnegie Hall, the purity of his style and the bright neatness of his technique were particularly admirable.”

The following year, Goodman and Szigeti recorded the trio with Bartok himself at the piano. For that occasion, Bartok added a third movement, and the resulting work was re-titled Contrasts.

Music Played in Today's Program

Béla Bartók (1881 –1945) Contrasts Benny Goodman, clarinet; Joseph Szigeti, violin; Bela Bartok, piano CBS/SONY 42227

On This Day

Births

• 1839 - American composer John Knowles Paine, in Portland, Maine;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 154 ("Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren") performed on the 1st Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1880 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "May Night," in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Jan. 21);

• 1904 - Debussy: "Estampes," by Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes, in Paris;

• 1909 - Ravel: "Gaspard de la Nuit," by Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes, in Paris;

• 1937 - Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 4, in Los Angeles, by the Kolisch Quartet;

• 1939 - Bartók: "Rhapsody" (two movements) for clarinet, violin, and piano, in New York City, with clarinetist Benny Goodman, violinist Joseph Szigeti, and the composer at the piano; For the 1940 recording session of this work, commissioned by Goodman, Bartók added a middle movement and changed the title to "Contrasts";

• 1947 - Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 2, by the San Francisco Symphony, Pierre Monteux conducting;

• 1947 - Kurt Weill: opera "Street Scene," in New York City at the Adelphi Theater;

• 1948 - Walter Piston: Symphony No. 3, Serge Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1948;

• 1976 - William Bolcom: "Seasons" for guitar, in New York City;

• 1987 - Joan Tower: "Silver Ladders," by the St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting;

• 1988 - Alvin Singleton: "After Fallen Crumbs" for orchestra, by the Atlanta Symphony, Michael Palmer conducting.