Bartok, B.: Romanian Folk Dances
Tax included.
The 'Roumanian Folk Dances' for piano were one outcome of B̩la BartÌ_k's intensive preoccupation with the folk music of Southeastern Europe. The present composition, dating from 1915, is just one of several similar works from this period in BartÌ_k's life. The pieces are based on authentic folk melodies which BartÌ_k himself wrote down in Roumania, adding his own harmonies. He subsequently arranged the pieces for chamber orchestra (1917), and soon after this ZoltÌÁn Sz̩kely arranged them for violin and piano with the composer's consent. It is on this latter version that the present arrangement for clarinet and piano is based. There can be few other instruments which so aptly convey the bucolic character intrinsic to this music than the clarinet.