Bartok - Piano Sonata, ; BB 88

Composer: Béla Viktor János Bartók (25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) Work Title: Piano Sonata, ; BB 88 Performer: Jenő Jandó (piano) 0:00 - I. Allegro moderato 4:28 - II. Sostenuto e pesante 9:00 - III. Allegro molto The Piano Sonata BB 88 () is a piano sonata by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, composed in June 1926. 1926 is known to musicologists as Bartók’s “piano year“, when he underwent a creative shift in part from Beethovenian intensity to a more Bachian craftsmanship. The work is in three movements, with the following tempo indications: It is tonal but highly dissonant (and has no key signature), using the piano in a percussive fashion with erratic time signatures. Underneath clusters of repeated notes, the melody is folklike. Each movement has a classical structure overall, in character with Bartók’s frequent use of classical forms as vehicles for his most advanced thinking. Musicologist