Béla Bartók

Hungarian Folk Tunes

At thirty-five, Joseph Szigeti was already an internationally famous violin virtuoso. Although he lived abroad, he decided to initiate a fruitful connection with Bartók in a roundabout way. In 1926 Szigeti prepared a transcription for violin and piano of six pieces from Bartók's For Children, some Hungarian folksong arrangements which Bartók had set for the piano. Szigeti then sent the manuscript to Bartók's publisher, Universal Edition in Vienna, who passed it on to Bartók in Budapest in September of the same year. The composer was impressed by Szigeti's work and approved it after suggesting some changes. These included some minor corrections of the harmony and voice leading in Bartók's original composition as well as some changes in the piano texture, a revision of the key signatures and accidentals, and above all a reorganization of the pieces into three attacca blocks. The present II (b) movement was added by Szigeti following Bartók's advice. It is interesting to note that Bartók felt that his title For Children was not really suitable for this concert arrangement and that he suggested Hungarian Folk Tunes instead. After Szigeti and Bartók had checked the revised form in April in Budapest, the score was published in 1927. The gramophone recording made by Szigeti and Bartók in 1930 was originally released by Columbia in London and reissued on CD in: Bartók at the Piano, Hungaroton 1991, HCD 12326-31. It is important as a definitive example of what Bartók considered to be the proper rendition of the score. (L. Somfai)