Béla Bartók: 44 Duets For Two Violins - Volume 1: Violin Duet: Instrumental

From '44 Duos For Two Violins'. Par BARTOK BELA. Béla Bartók (1881-1945) composed his 44 Duos for Two Violins in 1931. These unique musical miniatures combine folk melodies from Eastern Europe with the musical language of the twentieth century in an exciting blend of tradition and modernity. For the present edition Marcin Langer arranged twenty of these duos for Bb clarinets. The pieces allow players to share the pleasure of chamber music while exploring this fascinating sound world. All the duos sound at the original pitch and can thus be performed by a clarinet and violin. Most of the duets can also be played by a clarinet and alto saxophone combination (nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17). In such cases, the relevant duos from the edition for two violins (UE 10452A and UE 10452B) or for two alto saxophones (UE36991) should be used./ Répertoire / 2 Clarinettes

Par BERIO LUCIANO. This set of arrangements of Luciano Berio’s “Duetti”, originally for two violins, represents a fascinating expansion of the limited repertoire for two violas. Berio originally conceived these duets as a collection of occasional pieces, each dedicated to someone who was close to him, rather like Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations, but they eventually developed into a full compositional project with pedagogical overtones. As such, there is a wide variation in technical demands, from pieces playable by beginners up to a duet that foreshadows the skills required for Berio’s “Sequenza” for the viola. Taken as a whole, over some years of study, the “Duetti” can gently lead players into the mysteries of contemporary music; however, the composer also envisaged them in a concert performance of the complete cycle with at least 24 players of differing abilities taking turns to play. In this guise, it might be an intriguing idea to mix them with the original version for two violins (UE17757), although it must be understood that the two versions are not mutually compatible to be played as violin/viola duets./ Répertoire / 2 Altos

Works 26-44 from a set of 44 duets all based around the peasant folk melodies of Bartok's native Hungary rich in Bartok's characteristic harmonic invention and arranged in progressive order of difficulty. Edited by Peter Bartok.