This disc presents Béla Bartók’s complete published American Columbia recordings, made in a series of sessions in New York in April and May 1940. Although this was a time of great difficulty for the émigré composer, with the upheaval of migration, the strain of illness and several career challenges, one can only be compelled by the fire and dynamism of his playing and rewarded by his interaction with legendary violinist Joseph Szigeti and clarinetist Benny Goodman. These authoritative interpretations of his music rank among the musical treasures of the wartime discography.