Hungarian Folktunes: Violin Solo with Piano

Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist Béla Bartók (1881-1945) originally completed the cycle of 85 short piano pieces FOR CHILDREN in 1909. Each piece was based on a folk tune, with the first 42 being Hungarian, and the remaining 43 being Slovakian. Famed Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) took six of the Hungarian folk tunes and transcribed them for violin and piano. As Bartók later removed and revised some of the songs in the collection, the following numbers included are the original numbers from the 1909 collection: No. 28 - Parlando, No. 18 - Andante con moto, No. 42 - Allegro vivace, No. 33 - Andante sostenuto, No. 6 - Allegro, No. 13 - Andante, No. 38 - Poco vivace. In addition to the original, more difficult violin part he transcribed originally, Szigeti also wrote a simplified version where only the first to fourth positions are used. Both violin versions are included in this edition.