From Alamy.com
I have just finished reading an excellent book by Christine Brown called ‘Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, A Guide for Piano Teachers’. The following information comes from this book.
There are exercises at the end of Books I – IV which should be learnt and studied in advance. These exercises are designed to help prepare the student for technical problems arising in the pieces.
The pieces in Mikrokosmos reveal almost all of his compositional techniques. Bartók desired clarity and symmetry in his later compositions and this resulted in pieces that contain a transparent texture.
Some of the pieces contain technical concerns, others concern problems of style and many concentrate on particular devices.
Folk music – one of the most important influences on Bartók as a composer was his discovery of genuine Hungarian folk music. He had assumed, as had Liszt and Brahms, that Hungarian folk music was that of gypsies. In 1904 though, Bartoók heard a Hungarian peasant girl singing a genuine folk melody and soon recognised the influence that folk music would have on his compositions. Bartók particularly admired the concise, concentrated expression of a musical idea found in the songs. He declared in 1933 that his own music was influenced by the folk music of Hungary, Slovakia and Rumania. Bartók later found out that not only were the nations of Central Europe bound together by their folk lore but that traces of the same tunes could be found in the music of the Arabs, Turks and Asiatic peoples. Bartoók regarded a folk song as a miniature masterpiece, perfect in form and with great expressive power.
Modes and tonality - Bartók discovered that the vast majority of the folk songs that he collected were not in the major or minor keys but with the old ‘ecclesiastical’ modes or even older pentatonic modes. Each mode has a different order of tones and semitones, giving it a particular character. Bartók widened the concept of tonality by using modes, pentatonic, whole-tone and self-devised scales.accompaniment.
Rhythm – the variety and complexity of the rhythms found in the Mikrokosmos are a natural counterpart to the wide-ranging tonality of the pieces. Bartók himself had a remarkably strong rhythmic sense; his mother reported that he felt the rhythms instinctively.
Keen rhythmic sense is developed in those who study Mikrokosmos. Regard for the exact duration of notes and rests is a fundamental requirement from the beginning. Pupils are led step by step to an understanding not only of many kinds of syncopation and changing metres, but also unusual time signatures, irregular groupings of notes and cross rhythms.
A New Style of Technical Training – the emphasis on unison playing is a unique feature of Mikrokosmos and pupils who study these pieces will develop an even touch and a rich quality of tome. The first six pieces are in unison and there are more unison melodies from 18 to 21 when intervals larger than a second appear for the first time. Passages in unison occur in many other pieces.
Another unusual feature of Mikrokosmos is the large number of pieces based on a closed hand position. Monotony is avoided by placing the hands at various intervals from one another, by using contrary as well as parallel movement and by employing irregular phrase lengths, different rhythms and a variety of scales and modes.
Bela Bartok collecting Slovak folk songs, 1907 in village of Zobordarazs in Nyitra County (now Drazovce, the Czech Republic), making a recording from Alamy.com
Pedalling – there are two excellent preliminary exercises for the use of the sustaining pedal in the Appendix to Volume 2 and these should be studied before 47, in which the use of pedal is first required.
The use of the una corda is not specified anywhere in Mikrokosmos, or indeed in any of Bartók’s works. Peter Bartók recalls that his father expected him, as a young pupil, to produce soft tone by finger control alone.
Musicianship – Bartók suggests the transposition of simpler pieces and exercises into other keys. The large number of pieces in a five-finger position facilitates this procedure.
Bartók suggests playing the pieces by two players, each taking a hand on different pianos.
Mikrokosmos provides intriguing technical and imaginative challenges to pupils of all ages. The pieces cover a wide range, from peasant vigour to aristocratic poise, from gentle humour to dynamic excitement, from grave thoughtfulness to fervent passion.
BARTOK, Bela - with his wife & son Pasztory Dittaval and son Peterrel, from Alamy.com
In Bartók’s uncompromising view, the piano is at its most expressive not when imitating a vocal instrument but when being true to its own nature, a percussion instrument.
In Mikrokosmos the combined experience of Bartók the pianist, Bartók the composer, Bartók the folk music specialist and Bartók the teacher are united to produce pieces which will ensure that those who study them have a well-developed technique, a fine awareness of tone colour, an understanding of the structure of music and a broad musical outlook.