Sonata for two pianos and percussion, SZ110, BB115

One of the most innovative compositions of its time, the Sonata for two pianos and percussion made Bartk
proud to be a 20th Centurys composer, according to his own word. Conceived as a quartet for two pianos and
percussion, the Sonata can be seen as a continuous dialogue between the four performers, with the pianos
imitating the percussions' articulation and timbres and vice versa.

Composed in 1938, the Sonata was commissioned to Bartk for Paul Sacher, a young Swiss conductor, who
founded the Basel Kammerorchester in 1926. A very wealthy impresario, Sacher commissioned works from all
major 20th century composers, including Bartk, Hindemith, Stravinsky and Dutilleux, and premiered them
with his orchestra.

There was no orchestra or conductor needed for the Sonata, as the work was premiered by the composer
himself and his wife Ditta Psztory-Bartk at the pianos and two swiss percussionists, Fritz Schiesser and
Philipp Rhlig at the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) anniversary concert of 16 January
1938 in Basel, Switzerland.

The premiere had a huge impact on the audience and musical critics, starting the career of Bartk and his wife
as a piano duo, which continued successfully in the United States where the couple moved in 1939.

In response to a question asked by Aurel von Milloss, the famous dancer and choreographer, about the
meaning of this composition, Bartk replied, it is difficult to describe because it does not have a meaning; it
has an essence: in it, I sought to express fear. The fear the composer is referring to is in response to the
climate of tension in a pre-war Europe, which Bartk left to pursue a safer musical career in the USA.

Structurally, the Sonata embodies Bartks indisputable mastery of tradition and his innovative compositional
approach.

The first movement is in sonata form with very distinct sections and themes, where Bartk experiments with
unexpected modulations. Unusually for this form, the performing time of the movement takes half of the total
performance length of the piece. The rhythm varies throughout the movement, within an overall 9/8 time.

The second movement, an example of Bartoks night music idiom, is introduced by a somehow macabre dance
performed by the percussions, leading to the piano entry.

The third movement is instead introduced by the pianos, followed by the xylophone. This movement is
composed in a Rondo form and it starts and ends in C major.

The Sonata follows Bartks conception of music, reflective of his own perception of life which begins and end
from nothing. The Sonata starts from a pianissimo dynamic indication for the lower registers of timpani and
pianos, and ends at the same pp dynamic indication for pianos playing in the higher register, with percussions
playing ppp to pppp in a dialogue between cymbals and snare drums while the sounds from the pianos dies
away in silence.