Béla Bartók

Bartok Piano Collection Vol. 1

Béla Bartók (1881–1945) is widely acknowledged as one of the most distinguished and influential composers of the twentieth century. Born in Hungary to a musical family, he became a leading international concert pianist and educator, studying and later teaching at the Budapest Royal Academy of Music. A pioneering ethnomusicologist, Bartók collected thousands of folk songs during his travels across central Europe. Their influence can be traced throughout his compositional canon including such seminal concert works as Violin Concerto No 2 (1937–38) and Concerto for Orchestra (1943). The Definitive Bartók Edition brings together selected highlights from the definitive imprints of pedagogical masterpieces Mikrokosmos (1926–1937) and For Children (1908–09, revised 1943) alongside excerpts from Romanian Folk Dances (1915) and Romanian Christmas Carols (1915) in two companion volumes for the very first time.