Viola Concerto, Sz. 120 for viola and piano (Serly/Primrose) by Bela Bartok
Completed by Tibor Serly. Edited by William Primrose. Published by Boosey & Hawkes
Bela Bartok (1881-1945) was one of Hungary's greatest composers and one of the most outstanding composers of the 20th century. He was a committed modernist, applying the contrapuntal rigor of Bach and Brahms to the broader tonal sensibilities of Debussy and Schoenberg. He was also one of the first ethnomusicologists; he recorded folk music across Eastern Europe with fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly, later incorporating folk song into his own music. He wrote much in the way for strings, including string quartets, concertos, and folk suites.
One of Bartok's final works was his Viola Concerto, Sz. 120 (1945), a commission from prominent violist William Primrose. Bartok made significant progress in his sketches, but he died of leukemia before being able to complete the work, leaving orchestration and entire sections uncompleted. Nevertheless, the piece remains one of the crowning gems of the viola concertante repertory, often played in its 1949 completion by Tibor Serly or the 1995 revision by Peter Bartok and Paul Neubauer. This 1949 Serly completion contains markings by William Primrose. Master level, Grade 6.
