Bartók: For Children (Gyermekeknek), Volume 1 [Based on Hungarian Folk Tunes] (with score)

‘For Children’ is a cycle of short piano pieces composed by Béla Bartók. The collection was originally started in 1908 and completed in 1909. It comprised 85 pieces which were issued in four volumes. Each piece is based on a folk tune, Hungarian in the first two volumes (42 pieces), and Slovakian in the last two (43 pieces). In 1945, Bartók revised the set, removing six pieces which used tunes which had been inaccurately transcribed or found not to be original folk tunes, and substantially changing the harmonization of a number of others; the cycle, now of 79 pieces, was reissued in two volumes (of 40 and 39 pieces). The pieces were written as student works, and progress slightly in difficulty through each half of the cycle. However, in modern times, some concert pianists, notably Zoltán Kocsis, have begun including some of them on their recital programs, citing their musical value even apart from their pedagogical origins. VOLUME I (Based on Hungarian Folk Tunes) VOLUME I (Based on Hungarian Folk Tunes) 1. Allegro - Children at play 0:00:00 2. Andante - Children’s Song 0:00:34 3. Quasi adagio 0:01:22 4. Allegro - Pillow Dance 0:02:11 5. Allegretto - Play 0:02:59 6. Allegro - Study for the left hand 0:04:09 7. Andante grazioso - Play Song 0:04:55 8. Allegretto - Children’s Game 0:05:26 9. Adagio - Song 0:06:51 10. Allegro molto - Children’s Dance 0:07:53 11. Lento 0:08:28 12. Allegro 0:09:29 13. Andante - Ballad 0:10:56 14. Allegretto 0:12:02 15. Allegro moderato 0:12:37 16. Andante rubato - Old Hungarian tune 0:13:10 17. Lento - Round Dance 0:14:01 18. Andante rubato - Soldier’s Song 0:15:14 19. Allegretto 0:16:07 20. Allegro - Drinking Song 0:16:46 21. Allegro robusto 0:17:19 22. Allegretto 0:18:09 23. Allegretto grazioso - Dance Song 0:18:55 24. Andante sostenuto 0:19:43 25. Parlando 0:20:55 26. Moderato 0:21:44 27. Allegramente - Jest 0:22:39 28. Andante - Choral 0:23:36 29. Allegro scherzando - Pentatonic Tune 0:25:06 30. Allegro ironico - Jeering Song 0:26:05 31. Andante tranquillo 0:26:37 32. Andante 0:28:25 33. Allegro non troppo 0:29:48 34. Allegretto 0:30:34 35. Con moto 0:31:25 36. Vivace - Drunkard’s Song 0:32:03 37. Allegro - Swine-Herd’s Song 0:32:45 38. Molto vivace - Winter Solstice 0:33:21 39. Allegro moderato 0:34:19 40. Allegro vivace - Swine-herd’s Dance 0:35:53 Piano : Géza Anda Recorded in 1954-55, at London Recording: