An Evening in the Village: The Music of Bela Bartok - CD Baby Independants - CD

Recording information: 2010-04-??&2010-08-??&2010-.

Those browsing for a conventional program of Béla Bartók's music will receive little clue of what they're getting into from the external packaging of this album, which is both highly diverting and entirely original. Essentially it consists of short pieces by Bartók, as well as some excerpts from larger works, arranged for an American progressive bluegrass ensemble: banjo, violin, mandolin, guitar, cello, and bass. Project leader banjoist Jake Schepps concedes that the idea is "unlikely," but give it a listen. At the very least, you'll hear something quite unlike any other recording. On top of that, Schepps is joined by some top-notch players, including veteran San Francisco Bay Area mandolinist Matt Flinner and cellist Ben Sollee, a participant in some of banjoist Abigail Washburn's Chinese-bluegrass fusions. A key unheard presence is producer Jayme Stone, a Canadian-American banjoist who has recorded with West African musicians; this project in its way is even more ambitious, and that's all to the good. The deeper idea Schepps is exploring is that progressive bluegrass has the same kind of relationship to American roots material as Bartók's music did to its Hungarian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Balkan forbears: in each case, the musicians abstract certain features of the roots form (a rhythm, a scale, a motive, an instrumental timbre) and explore it formally. Schepps underlines this by including a traditional American tune, Cousin Sally Brown, and just slightly "Bartók-ifying" it. Some pieces work better than others. For progressive bluegrass listeners, the initial impression is likely to be that the players have taken the genre and stripped out one of its most important components, namely the jazz influence. But keep listening, and intriguing commonalities emerge. Bartók's slow pieces work perfectly well when played with violin techniques developed to convey an American country waltz. Many of the pieces from Bartók's Mikrokosmos or from the 44 Violin Duos explore specific scales, and the scalar music of bluegrass is not so far away. Schepps freely mixes in bluegrass rhythms; the pieces are not simple transcriptions but reimaginings. The music is not consistently successful, but it has the excitement of true originality. ~James Manheim

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Works Details

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Hungarian Sketches, BB 103 :: An Evening in the Village

Performers: Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ben Sollee (Cello); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin)
Running Time: 4 min. 55 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Duos (44) for 2 violins, Volumes 1-4, Sz. 98 :: Ruthenian 'kolomejka', Sz. 98/35

Performers: Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ross Martin (Guitar)
Running Time: 1 min. 51 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Five-Tone Scale, for piano (Mikrokosmos Vol. 3/78), Sz. 107/3/78, BB 105/78

Performers: Ben Sollee (Cello); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ross Martin (Guitar); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin)
Running Time: 2 min. 47 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926-1939

Traditional, American : Cousin Sally Brown

Performers: Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ross Martin (Guitar); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Running Time: 2 min. 22 sec.

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Duos (44) for 2 violins, Volumes 1-4, Sz. 98 :: Dance from Máramaros, Sz. 98/32

Performers: Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ben Sollee (Cello); Matt Flinner (Mandolin)
Running Time: 1 min. 15 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, BB 105 :: Dance no 3 (Mikrokosmos #150)

Performers: Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ben Sollee (Cello); Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo)
Running Time: 3 min. 44 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926-1939

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Stars, Stars, Brightly Shine, for piano (For Children Vol. 2/33), Sz. 42/2/33, BB 53/33

Performers: Ryan Drickey (Violin); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello); Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo)
Running Time: 2 min. 34 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1908-1910

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Play (Játék), duo for 2 violins (44 Duos Vol. 1/9), Sz. 98/9, BB 104/9

Performers: Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ross Martin (Guitar); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Wedding Song (Lakodalmas), duo for 2 violins (44 Duos Vol. 1/13), Sz. 98/13, BB 104/13

Performers: Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Running Time: 1 min. 30 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Romanian Whirling Dance (Forgatós), duo for 2 violins (44 Duos Vol. 4/38), Sz. 98/38, BB 104/38

Performers: Ben Sollee (Cello); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ross Martin (Guitar)
Notes: Composition written: 1931.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Romance :: "I Know a Little Forest", for piano (For Children Vol. 4/34), Sz. 42/4/34, BB 53/76

Performers: Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Running Time: 1 min. 48 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1908-1910

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Play (Játék), duo for 2 violins (44 Duos Vol. 1/9), Sz. 98/9, BB 104/9

Performers: Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Romanian Christmas Carols, for piano Series I, Sz. 57, BB 67

Performers: Ross Martin (Guitar); Grant Gordy (Guitar); Ben Sollee (Cello); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Jake Schepps (Banjo)
Running Time: 4 min. 37 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Christmas
Written: 1915

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Duos (44) for 2 violins, Volumes 1-4, Sz. 98 :: Cushion Dance

Performers: Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ben Sollee (Cello); Ross Martin (Guitar)
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, BB 105 :: Dance no 2 (Mikrokosmos #149)

Performers: Ross Martin (Guitar); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Running Time: 4 min. 9 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926-1939

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Hungarian Sketches, BB 103 :: Melody

Performers: Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ross Martin (Guitar); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ben Sollee (Cello)
Running Time: 2 min. 19 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Duos (44) for 2 violins, Volumes 1-4, Sz. 98 :: Hungarian Song 1

Performers: Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Ben Sollee (Cello); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ross Martin (Guitar)
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1931

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm, BB 105 :: Dance no 4 (Mikrokosmos #153)

Performers: Ben Sollee (Cello); Grant Gordy (Guitar); Ross Martin (Guitar); Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ryan Drickey (Violin); Jake Schepps (Banjo)
Running Time: 2 min. 19 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926-1939

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) : Jocul cu bâta (Stick Dance), for piano (Romanian Folk Dances no 1), Sz. 56/1, BB 68 1

Performers: Matt Flinner (Mandolin); Ross Martin (Guitar); Ben Sollee (Cello); Jake Schepps (Banjo); Ryan Drickey (Violin)
Notes: Composition written: 1915.
Running Time: 4 min. 44 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1915

An Evening in the Village: The Music of Béla Bartók

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