Dance Suite (Bartók)

Dance Suite, Sz. 77, BB 86 (Hungarian: Táncszvit), sometimes also called Tanz Suite, Sz. 77, BB 86, is an orchestral suite composed in 1923 by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. In 1925, the composer himself wrote a reduction of this piece for piano, which has become also as well-known as the original. In order to differentiate between one another, the orchestral version is categorized as BB 86a, while the reduction is categorized as BB 86b.

Composition

Béla Bartók composed the Dance Suite in 1923 in order to celebrate the union of the cities Buda and Pest, in what now is commonly known as Budapest, the Hungarian capital. Then, after its great success, the director of Universal Edition, Emil Hertzka, commissioned him an easy arrangement for piano, which was published in 1925. However, he never performed a version of his own in a recital, and the arrangement was premiered in March 1945, a few months before his death, by his friend György Sándor.^[1]

Structure

This suite has six movements, even though some recordings conceive it as one single full-length movement. A typical performance of the whole work would last approximately fifteen minutes.

• I. Moderato
• II. Allegro molto
• III. Allegro vivace
• IV. Molto tranquillo
• V. Comodo
• VI. Finale. Allegro

This work consists on five dances with Arabic, Wallachian and Hungarian melodies, and a finale that brings together all the previous thematic sketches. There was one more movement, omitted by the composer according to his mathematical principles, which would be placed between the second and the third movement. This movement is called Slovakian Dance, and was finally dismissed and remained unorchestated.^[1] However, the movement No. 1 called Moderato contains thematic references to this piece towards the end thereof.

Recordings

Notable recordings of the orchestral version include:

Orchestra	Conductor	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
London Philharmonic Orchestra	Georg Solti	Decca Records	1952	LP[2]
RIAS Symphony Orchestra	Ferenc Fricsay	Deutsche Grammophon	1953	LP[2]
Philharmonia Orchestra	Igor Markevitch	HMV	1954	LP[2]
Philharmonia Hungarica	Antal Doráti	Mercury Records	1958	LP[3]
Symphony Orchestra of Hungarian Radio and Television	György Lehel	Deutsche Grammophon	1962	LP[2]
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande	Ernest Ansermet	Decca Records	1964	LP[2]
New York Philharmonic Orchestra	Pierre Boulez	Columbia	1972	LP[2]
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra	Zdeněk Košler	Panton	1973	LP[2]
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra	Neville Marriner	Capriccio	1994	CD[4]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra	Marin Alsop	Naxos Records	2005	CD[5]

Notable recordings of the piano reduction include:

Piano Solo	Record Company	Year of Recording	Format
András Schiff	Denon Records / Brilliant Classics	1980	CD[6]
Jenő Jandó	Naxos Records	2005	CD[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Whitehouse, Richard (2005). 8.554718 - BARTOK, B.: Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Jando) - Dance Suite / Romanian Folk Dances. Hong Kong: HNH International Ltd.. p. 3. http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.554718&catNum=554718&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#. Retrieved July 27, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Discographical data from The CHARM Discography, Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, <http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/about/about_structure>, accessed 5 September 2011.
3. ^ Review of LP reissue on Speaker's Corner. Classic Record Collector, Summer 2007, 49:67
4. ^ "Tracklist from the CD C10417 from the Naxos catalogue". Hong Kong: Naxos Digital Services Ltd.. 1994. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=C10417. Retrieved July 27, 2011. 
5. ^ "Tracklist from the CD 8.557433 from the Naxos catalogue". Hong Kong: Naxos Digital Services Ltd.. 2005. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.557433. Retrieved July 27, 2011. 
6. ^ "Information about the CD 9714 from Denon Records". Santa Clara: Rovi Corporation. 1980. http://www.allmusic.com/album/schiff-plays-bartok-w9714. Retrieved July 27, 2011. 
7. ^ "Tracklist from the CD 8.554718 from the Naxos catalogue". Hong Kong: Naxos Digital Services Ltd.. 2005. http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.554718. Retrieved July 27, 2011. 

External links

• Dance Suite, Sz. 77, BB 86: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.