GS: But going back to Bartók, since many more people play his music, and since he wrote a piece that's called Allegro barbaro, they have in mind that Bartók has to be played percussively and barbarically. That, unfortunately, puts a stamp on a lot of Bartók performances — even in Hungary! He left Hungary many, many years ago, and there was no break in a tradition in Hungary. But all over the world, whenever you hear Bartók it's usually done in a ferocious, barbaric, sort of motoric way. I happen to be very fortunate. I studied with him four years; I heard him play any kind of music, and the most important characteristic of Bartók's playing and interpretation was rubato, freedom, an improvisatory quality. That was the most important thing. Of course, then come the arguments. "Why did he write so precisely the metronome signs; why did he write so precisely the duration of the piece?" That's simply because in those days when he wrote his music, nobody knew a thing about his style; they didn't know what to do with it at all! So he had to write a lot of information. But when he played those pieces which he marked so very carefully he played them completely differently!
BD: So he assumed that any performer who got under the skin of the music would then make it his own and take it beyond the printed page?
GS: Just like any other music! Just like with any other music! Very often he wrote down exact metronome markings, and he played those totally differently. A very good example is the First Piano Concerto. I happened to study with him the First and Second Concerto. The metronome markings in the third movement of the First Concerto are excessively fast, but all our colleagues — the honest, good musicians — all read the markings and say, "That's what Bartók meant; let's play that way." I heard Bartók play it very differently. If you follow exactly the metronome marks in that particular one and in some of the other pieces, too, the character totally changes! In the last movement of the Opus 14, which is a slow movement, the metronome marking is incredibly fast!
BD: Then why did he make this outlandish marking?
GS: That question comes up all the time. He had a little pocket metronome. Not the one that you use or I use, but one with a little string and a weight hanging on it. It wasn't accurate at all! So his metronome markings should be considered as relative markings. When 64 is followed by 80, then you know that this section is faster. But certainly do not take the absolute measurements with the markings.
BD: Then why don't the publishers go back through the scores and either eliminate the metronome markings or change them from precise measurements to "slower," "faster," and so forth?
GS: Good question. Right now we are involved in re-editing Bartók's music. I'm in touch with Peter Bartók. He sends me lot of things including the Third Piano Concerto, and whenever I come up with any idea of interpreting it, the answer by the publisher and by everybody is, "Bartók wrote this down; it must be exactly the way he wrote it down." Who am I to argue? I recorded the concertos again in Hungary, last year. They are coming out in April, and we spent hours with the correct tempo markings. The real answer is, "Because he wasn't fussy. He wasn't dogmatic or pedantic." He wrote an approximate something, and he knew very well that when it gets played in Orchestra Hall or Fischer Hall, the acoustics are different and the tempo will be different. Check his recordings of the Mikrokosmos. He recorded, I think, 45 of them and the exact metronome markings are there in the music. Just listen to him and how he plays!
BD: They're not close to the printed indications!
GS: No! The mood of the music is what counts, not the speed.