Introduction

The 125^th anniversary of Béla Bartók's birth in 2006 saw the launch of the Bartók New Series, which presents the composer's entire oeuvre on 31 CDs.

A Bartók Complete Edition was made thirty years ago, and to this day it remains the most important production of Hungarian musical performing arts and sound recording. The series of LPs, recently also released in CD format, brought resounding success not only to the label, but also showed the international recognition of Hungarian musical culture, for example by winning of one of the prestigious Cannes MIDEM prizes in 2002. Yet one is forced to concede that, despite its unequivocal value, artistically and technically the day of the old Hungaroton complete edition has passed.

What should be expected of a new Bartók edition?

Hungarian orchestral culture stands on a much higher level than thirty years ago. And source research – thanks to the complete printed edition in preparation at the Bartók Archives in Budapest – provides unparalleled scholarly support for the interpretation of Bartók. And there is the performer-personality of Zoltán Kocsis, who as a pianist and in recent years as a conductor has reached the zenith of his career, and who in the eyes of critics from both Hungary and abroad is the trustee of an exceptionally forceful interpretation of Bartók.

The timeliness of this new Bartók series is further borne out by the leaps and bounds with which audio recording technology has developed (digital processing, SACD format).

With composer Zoltán Jeney as president, the Bartók New Series Foundation has formed, and an expert committee has taken shape consisting of three important Bartók specialists of our time. We are releasing the Bartók oeuvre divided into five groups according to genre (orchestral works, chamber music, songs, choral works, works for piano), first as individual CDs, then grouped in box sets. Recordings are expected to be completed by 2010, and the entire series should be released by 2011.

The orchestral works (including stage works) are recorded with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Zoltán Kocsis, and Kocsis plays the piano part of the chamber works, songs and choral works, as well as Bartók's transcriptions of pieces by Baroque composers. No new recordings will be made of the solo piano works: Hungaroton is using Kocsis's complete edition of solo piano works released on the Philip's label, in addition to the Rhapsody and Scherzo with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer. The series is completed with valuable archive recordings (such as Bartók's own piano playing or the recording of the world premiere of the Violin Concerto with Zoltán Székely). The studies accompanying the CDs, written by outstanding Bartók researchers from Hungary and abroad, are given in four languages.