Contrasts (Bartók)

Bartók wrote the work in response to a letter from violinist Joseph Szigeti, although it was officially commissioned by clarinetist Benny Goodman.

The third is a frenzied dance that begins with a scordatura (G♯-D-A-E♭) violin section, after which the clarinet introduces the main theme.

[2] Szigeti recalled that Bartók had told him that the start of Contrasts had partial inspiration from the "Blues" second movement of Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Piano.

[5] The trio of this movement features "Bulgarian Rhythm" [6] and is similar in spirit to the Finale of the first Violin Sonata:[7] The work is said by Kárpáti[4] to have "technical bravura and at the same time...poetic versatility".

Seiber [6] considers it "a less weighty, less important work in Bartók's whole œuvre" though [7] the "writing for both violin and clarinet" is "most effective throughout".