A Study On The Features Of Bartok’s Four Sonatas

Bela Bartok is recognized as a very significant composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist in the twentieth century. Most of his solo piano works and chamber music are among those most important compositions of the contemporary music. Apart from that of the well-known piano teaching classic "Mikrokosmos", the piano concertos and some piano solo pieces, there is not much comprehensive study of Bartok’s compositions in China. Scholars overseas focused more on biography, composition techniques, concertos, opera and works arranged from folk music than his sonata masterpieces.Sonata as a traditional music form has been used by a number of composers in its four hundred years of history. Some modern and contemporary composers continued to compose some famous sonatas and Bartok is one of them. Four important sonatas by Bartok-Violin Sonatas No.1&2, Piano Sonata and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion are studied in the paper.The background, form structure, tone rows, chords are analyzed in details with Bartok’s music concept, composition methodology and personal styles, so as to help us to understand and play Bartok’s music in a more thoughtful way.