With EIVIND OPSVIK (bass) & JEFF DAVIS (drums)
Béla Bartók’s “Fourteen Bagatelles” (1908) were among the Hungarian composer’s earliest masterpieces. The collection of piano miniatures marked a formative moment in the young composer’s life, harkening back to the Romanticism of the century just ended, showing nascent traces of his exploration of his native country’s folk music, and taking bold new steps in the direction of the avant-garde.
At a similarly early stage in his own already-impressive career, pianist/composer Jesse Stacken has composed his own set of Bagatelles – one less in number than Bartók’s, but expanded for a piano trio and open to jazz improvisation. Continue reading