Bela Bartok

Urtext (1932-1939). Bartók's Mikrokosmos has been one of the milestones in pedagogical piano repertoire for 80 years - and yet it is also far more than a "classical" piano primer. These 153 piano pieces, organized in ascending order of difficulty, engage not only with technical aspects of piano playing but also with the fundamentals of composition - from "Imitation and Inversion," "Ostinato," and "Free Variations," concerning compositional technique, to mood pieces and pieces with programmatic ideas such as "Notturno," "Boating," "From the Diary of a Fly," or the famous "Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm." Mikrokosmos first appeared in 1940 in six volumes. Based on volume 40 of the Bartók Complete Edition published in 2020(Z. 15040), the present Urtext edition offers the series gathered in three volumes. This edition includes Bartók's preface, exercises, and notes written for the first edition. Furthermore, it also features a preface and comments by the editor, which not only discuss the genesis and the compositional sources but also provide performers, teachers and pupils alike, with authentic and detailed information about Bartók's notation and the specific performing problems of Mikrokosmos.

Bartók’s 'Romanian Christmas Songs' are based on folk melodies that originated in a pagan celebration of the winter solstice and which he felt gave “the impression of a fiery war-like type of song ratherthan a pious and religious one”. Nevertheless he chose 20 melodies from this collection of “colinde” and published them under the title of “Christmas Songs”.In the first edition of 1918 theywere conceived for children’s hands and so were published “without octaves”; but in his revised edition of 1936 which we present here Bartók added an appendix featuring alternative “concertversions” confirming that these miniatures are also perfectly suited for public performance.This Urtext edition is based on that of the Bartók Complete Edition and for the first time integrates these concertvariants directly into the musical text. We also offer the original melodies and translations of the texts of these colinde to provide an insight into the origins of this rather different kind of Christmas music.

From 44 Duos For 2 Violins-Bela Bartók's 44 Violin Duos or selections therefrom have been the source of arrangements for a variety of instruments such as for piano (one set by the composer the Petite Suite) band as well as duos for every member of the string family even contrabass. These all followed the original concept: a pair of identical instruments. This set for viola and violoncello is intended to fill a gap where two instruments an octave apart can produce the broader tonal range. (P. Bartók)

No. 1 The Prisoner-From the Four Hungarian Folksongs Bartok's The Prisoner is written for mixed chorus (SSAATTBB) a cappella.

Nr. 3 Mutter einen Mann-Taken from Four Hungarian Folk Songs this lively piece is arranged for Mixed Chorus a capella with English translation by Nancy Bush.