Bartok / Fulop Rankl - Piano Works - Music CD

Bla Bartk's formative years as a composer in Budapest were stimulated by fashionable musical salons hosted by the wealthy Emma Gruber (later Zoltn Kodly's wife). His landmark Rhapsody, Op.1is dedicated to Gruber, while the earlier Variations are a romantic homage to his talented colleague Felicie Fbin, composer of the theme. The virtuoso Etudes focus on hand flexibility for pianists -the pieces For Children are based on Hungarian and Slovak peasant songs partly collected by Bartk. These revelatory sounds caused Bartk to change his approach to composing. He likened the arranging of a peas-ant melody to 'the mounting of a jewel', producing extremely effective miniature masterpieces of graceful perfection.