These works require virtuoso pianism, and the listener’s ability to discern lyricism and poetry in sometimes daunting and dissonant contexts. Bela Bartok’s (1881-1945) Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Op. 20 (1920), based on authentic peasant songs, are modified in constantly changing lights. The 1st piece is a modal melody only slightly varied; the 2nd much more dissonant; the 3rd almost pastoral, but with polytonal harmony; the 4th fast; the 5th based on the pentatonic scale and polytonal; the 6th plays the tune on the black keys (the pentatonic scale) and accompaniment on the white keys; the 7th is dedicated to Debussy’s memory; the 8th, variations using different harmonies. Miklos Rozsa (1907-1995) became famous as a composer
of film scores. His Piano Sonata Op. 20 (1948) is uncompromisingly dissonant and often percussive. The 1st mvmt begins with a serene two-part invention, whose theme is transformed into a toccata-like chase, culminating in a helter-skelter coda. The 2nd mvmt conveys nostalgic meditation. The finale transforms the 1st mvmt’s main theme into a wiry, athletic dance with a bravura ending. Elliott Carter’s (1908-2012) Piano Sonata (1945-46, revised 1982) was his first successful large-scale work. It exploits the grand sonorities and bell-like decay of resonance available to the piano. The 1st mvmt contrasts slow, sustained, resonant melody with restless fast music, but interposes first an espressivo, lyrical middle part. The 2nd mvmt begins with chordal writing followed by flights of melody, a rapid Misterioso middle section, a tremendous double fugue ending in a furious climax, and
then closes in a noble, hymn-like coda.