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Donald Macleod follows Béla Bartók as he takes his interest in national music in a new direction, with his discovery of folk music.

Bartók’s birthplace, Nagyszentmiklós, was on a geographical border. It’s now Sânnicolau Mare in Romania, close to the borders with Serbia and Hungary and then on the edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In a sense, he lived on a border as well. Bartók played an important role in synthesising the old and the new: he had an ear for the deep-rooted music of the Hungarian people – supposedly timeless and authentic – the music of the past – which he put to use in creating music that was international, challenging and new – music for the present and the future.

14 Bagatelles, #4 & #5
Ferenc Bognar, piano

Piros Alma / Red Apple
Andrea Melath, mezzo soprano
Emese Virag, piano

44 Duos for Two Violins
#44: Transylvanian Song
Andras Keller, violin
Janos Pilz, violin

Allegro Barbaro
Zoltan Kocsis, piano

Romanian Folk Dances for Orchestra
Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Transylvanian Dance
Lucian Ban, piano
John Surman, soprano saxophone
Mat Maneri, viola

String Quartet No.2
i. Moderato
ii. Allegro molto capriccioso
Takacs Quartet

Orchestral Suite No. 2
ii Allegro scherzando
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Zoltan Kocsis, conductor