Bela Bartok: Romanian Dances
There are many great and near-great performances of Bartok’s Romanian Dances, usually performed on violin or viola or cello with piano, or for piano solo too. There is an orchestral version too.
I love this music and have played the viola and the violin versions myself with a lot of pleasure and some degree of success.
I have heard my friend, John Walz, the great cellist in Los Angeles, perform this piece on cello with guitarist, James Smith, in a 1983 recording.
However, I found this recording recently and found it unique in its stylistic approach–Gilles Apap on the violin with a small ensemble of Spanish guitar and upright bass. Apap really bends the tempo and adds a country-load of glissandos and other effects, but all in all it’s a nice peformance. I think that the upright bass really adds so much to this music and the ensemble’s performance. Makes me want to wander the Romanian woods as a gypsy, looking for old world village life, ferocious and delirious music, and good yogurt. Enjoy!
While you are in the mood for some old-world dance music from eastern Europe, try this one too (a short documentary about the music and musicians of Romania):
