Béla Bartók

Drei Volkslieder aus dem Komitat Csík

In August [Bartók] heard the fifty-year-old Áron Balogh playing the peasant flute in Gyergyóteker patak in Cs k district. He arranged three songs under the title From Gyergyó, for tilinkó [peasant flute] and piano, and the piano transcription of this occasional composition presented to Stefi Geyer as 'Three Hungarian Folksongs from the Cs k District'. In all three versions Bartók retained the rich ornamentation of the flute version, and added a modal accompaniment to the melodies in a church mode. After the first two rubato melodies, notated in alternating time signatures, he concluded with a melody in strict 'giusto' rhythm. It is in this latter that the pentatonic skeleton beneath the diatonic surface can best be felt. Bartók notated the pentatonic vocal version of this melody on this same field trip, and arranged it in the series 'Eight Hungarian Folksongs'.

(HCD 32524 Bartók New Series Vol. 24, István G. Németh)