Poster Bela Bartok using a gramophone to record folk songs (1908)
Bela Bartok using a gramophone to record folk songs (1908)
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Bartok the Ethnomusicologist

Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology. He traveled the dusty back roads of Hungary and Romania, recording tens of thousands of folk songs, and that work inspired many of his own compositions. On today's episode, join us for Bartok's Hungarian Folk Tunes, from a concert at the Music@Menlo festival.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4: Movement 3 Menuetto: Allegro
Escher String Quartet
The Unfolding of Music II
Music@Menlo 20082

Liu Tieshan: Dance of the Yao Tribe
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Elim Chan, conductor
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major, Op. 13
Joshua Bell, violin; Sam Haywood, piano
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Franz Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163: Movement 1 Allegro ma non troppo
Yehuda Hanani, cello; The Escher String Quartet
Close Encounters With Music, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA

Hour 2

Peter Tchaikovsky: Polonaise from Eugene Onegin
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor
Russian Sketches
Telarc 80378

Bela Bartok (arr. Joseph Szigeti): Hungarian Folk Tunes for Violin and Piano
Paul Huang, violin; Wu Han, piano
Music@Menlo, Stent Family Hall, Menlo School, Atherton, CA

Michael Gilbertson: Mother Chords
Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra
Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, CA

Peter Tchaikovsky: The Tempest, Symphonic Fantasia after Shakespeare, Op. 18
Houston Symphony; Fabien Gabel, conductor
Houston Symphony, Jones Hall, Houston, TX

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Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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