In 1936 Béla Bartók was commissioned by his Swiss patron Paul Sacher to write the “Music for Stringed Instruments, Percussion and Celesta.” What Bartók created was nothing less than one of the greatest masterworks of the 20th century that beguiles the listener through its extraordinarily refined construction and lushly expressive rhythms and melodies.

Also remarkable is that Bartók jotted down the four-movement orchestral work very rapidly and without a short score. Breitkopf’s new edition is...