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Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Bartok: Mikrokosmos, No. 109, "From the Island of Bali"

First of all, let it be known as such; that the recording for this piece was not made available by the library. Their computer said that it was checked out earlier today but was never returned, which it should have been, after 2 hours. They, therefore, concluded that, perhaps, it wasn't even checked out at all and is still yet to be put out on reserve. I then looked in the catalog to see if there were other recordings of Mikrokosmos, but none of them contained the beloved no. 109. Also, Naxos Online did not have this recording. So I gave up looking for a recording. In the 5th bar of the piece a phenomena subtely occurs. The right and left hand almost reverse roles with a sort of inverted feel. In bars 9 and 10 the density increases, having both hands moving in 8th notes, along with a gradual ritardando and decrescendo, creating a division. At the risoluto the meter, tempo, and style change. Up to the 5th bar after the time change both hands are in rythmic and melodic unison creating a powerful driving atmosphere with much intensity and density. Then, at the 5th bar after, a sort of imitative counterpoint makes itself present. The 12th bar after the change there is a sudden dynamic change to ff, and the rythmic and melodic unison is brought back. This new drive culminates in the sforzando followed by the allargando, returning the listener (or looker) to the style of the first section. The meter returns to triple and the dynamic is brought back down to piano and is in a singing style. The right hand has a very melodically complex motion, while the rythmic variation stays fairly constant. All this is played over the left hand holding concert D's. The left hand briefly joins in on the rythm then slows down to a breaking point...where then it returns to the original tempo and final chords are played very softly and are supposed to last a long time.

1 comment:

Jimbo said...

Good job! I had the same piece and suffered the same difficulty finding a recording. I got lucky and happened on an old recording of the piece. After listening to the performance, I completely agree with all your comments.