Béla Bartók - Folk Music

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Béla Bartók (Bartók Béla), Dance from Máramaros 

From his 44 Duets for Two Violins

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) was a Hungarian composer who spent much of his life collecting and recording folk music with the help of a phonograph. He would then take these melodies and 'arrange' them - make his own music based on the inspiration he found going from one village to another, listening to people sing and watching people dance.  'Folk' music refers to music of the 'people' (literally) i.e. music that is rarely, if ever, written down and is past on through the generations of people within a specific region or country. 

 First, listen to a bit of the Hungarian folk singer Márta Sebestyén (Sebestyén Márta) singing this dance from the Máramaros region: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBD9fpeBvE




Máramaros once belonged to the kingdom of Hungary, but is now in part western Romania and in part western Ukraine. 


Now listen to Bartók's arrangement of the folk theme for two violins. Less than 40 seconds, but it's brilliant. This recording features the performers Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman: 

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