Béla Bartók: Romanian Folk Dances, BB 76
1. Jocul cu bâtă (Stick Dance)
2. Brâul (Belt Dance)
3. Pe loc (In One Spot)
4. Buciumeana (Dance from Bucsum)
5. Poarga românească (Romanian Polka)
6. Mărunţelul (Fast Dance)
The original version of ‘Romanian Folk Dances’ was written for piano in 1915 with the orchestral transcription of the work dating to 1917. In his Guide to Bartók, Hungarian music critic and music historian György Kroó noted that those who are familiar with the original character of the adapted dances, and “those who have enjoyed the Romanian folk dances of Transylvanian villages on the spot are exclusively the ones who truly understand how precisely Bartók’s adaptations evoke the fullness and richness of folk life”.
György Kurtág: Colindă-Baladă
“A continuation of Cantata Profana” – Romanian Hungarian music historian Ferenc László said about György Kurtág’s piece entitled ‘Colindă-Baladă’. For his cantata, György Kurtág adapted a Romanian-language kolinda text and melody collected by Bartók. This piece tells the story of love between the Sun and the Moon, brother and sister. Written for tenor solo, choir and chamber ensemble, this composition evokes the spirit of Bartók and recalls Kurtág’s youth in Romania while also maintaining a connection with both the pagan and Christian past through the work’s archaic text.
Béla Bartók: Three Village Scenes, BB 87b
1. Wedding – Svatba
2. Lullaby – Ukolievarka
3. Lads’ Dance – Tanec mladencov
“To Ditta in Budapest” – this is how Bartók dedicated this 1924 work of his. Composed for voice and piano, this piece adapts Slovak folk music.
A prominent Hungarian music critic of the era Aladár Tóth wrote about the composition with sincere enthusiasm: ‘Three Village Scenes’ “teems with wild and exotic sound effects through the piece’s extremely varied percussion instrumentation” while the melodies of the wonderfully beautiful Slovak folk songs are held together by daringly concise harmonic structures. Critic Aladár Tóth continues: “Well, yes! Ears trained on Brahms’ musical school of the last century are not accustomed to such folk song arrangements. Those who think that folk songs are only meant to entertain cultured souls with their charming naivety should not come to listen to Bartók and should not come to listen to true folk songs, either.”
Igor Stravinsky: Ebony Concerto
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante
III. Moderato. Con moto
In 1945 Stravinsky was concurrently working on two compositions: the three-movement ‘Symphony’ for symphony orchestra and ‘Ebony Concerto’ for jazz band.
Eric Walter White writes about Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto as follows: “Out of his flirtations with jazz, this piece is the most ambitious and successful. He has solved the problem of writing for a jazz band without jeopardising his artistic independence while demanding maximum discipline from the players and rejecting any improvisational elements in the performance.”
Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra, BB 118
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Molto adagio
III. Allegro assai
“Fortunately, the work went well, and I finished the piece in 15 days…”, Bartók reports in a letter to his son about the particularly rapid completion of ‘Divertimento for String Orchestra’. These pieces of music were commissioned by one of the most important patrons of 20th-century music Paul Sacher for The Basel Chamber Orchestra. Completed in 1939, the composition was premiered by Sacher himself a year later. Bartók composed this piece during his creative retreat in Saanen, in the Swiss Alps. After regular consultations with the client a “concerto-like, easy-to-play, suite-like work for string orchestra” was born.