Béla Bartók, Bryan Kyeth Abrams, Howie Tee

Sonatina

Béla Bartók's Sonatina for piano consists of five different folk tunes. In a 1944 radio broadcast of the Sonatina, Bartók described the piece: "This sonatina was originally conceived as a collection of Romanian folk dances for piano . . . The first movement, titled 'Bagpipers,' is a dance—it consists of two dances played by two bagpipers, the first by one and the second by another. The second movement is called ‘Bear Dance’—this was played for me by a peasant violinist on the G and D strings, using the lower strings to make it sound more like a bear’s voice . . . And the last movement also contains two folk melodies played by peasant violinists." Includes: I. Dudások (Bagpipes) Allegretto – II. Medvetánc (Bear Dance) Moderato – III. Finale. Allegro vivace.