Credits:

Various Composers

Description:

Microcosmos on the harpsichord! The talented Vradi alternates between Bartk and Baroque works. Budapest-trained harpsichordist Helga Varadi has recorded Bartk’s Microcosmos (excerpts) and works by Bach, Couperin, and Scarlatti. Microcosmos, meaning “microcosm,” is one of Bartk’s masterpieces, consisting of 153 pieces in Volume 6, and is intended to provide a course of piano exercises from rudimentary to highly technical, as well as to familiarize the listener with the unique sound structure of modern music. Varady has selected 22 pieces from Volumes 3 through 6. Bach, Couperin, and Scarlatti are included along with Bartk, making the compositions seem as if they were a single suite. Bartk’s second son, Peter (to whom Microcosmos Volumes 1 & 2 were dedicated), is said to have been impressed by Varady’s exquisite performance.