Bartok – Violin Concerto No. 2 / Kyung-Wha Chung, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti / Decca LP 1978 Stereo 

SXL 6802

Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117 was written in 1937–38. During the composer's life, it was known simply as his Violin Concerto. His other violin concerto, Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36, BB 48a, was written in the years 1907–1908, but only published in 1956, after the composer's death, as "Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. posth."

Bartók composed the concerto in a difficult stage of his life, when he was filled with serious concerns about the growing strength of fascism. He was of firm anti-fascist opinions, and therefore became the target of various attacks in pre-war Hungary.

Bartók initially planned to write a single-movement concerto set of variations, but Zoltán Székely wanted a standard three-movement concerto. In the end, Székely received his three movements, while Bartók received his variations: the second movement is a formal set of variations, and the third movement is a variation on material from the first.

Bartók Béla a II. hegedűversenyét (Sz. 112, BB 117) – amely 1937 augusztusa és 1938. december 31. között készült – tartotta egyetlen hegedűversenyének. Amit ma I. hegedűversenyként ismerünk, az egy korai, kéttételes mű, melyet csak halála után adtak közre. Egyes kutatók szerint a mű a variációs művészet szinte felülmúlhatatlan csúcsteljesítménye.