Three Rondos on Folk Tunes

Andante

Vivacissimo

Allegro molto

The first of the Three Rondos derives from Slovak folk-tune arrangements Bartók made in 1916. He put them together in their present form in 1927 when he wrote two more short rondos on similar material to complete a set of three. While they are linked by their common source in Slovak folk song, the more interesting aspect of the work is how different the later arrangements are from the earlier one. The first Rondo, though it has its rumbustious episodes to set alongside its children’s song main theme, is a collection of comparatively modest piano arrangements in much the same manner as that of the Sonatina of 1915. The second and third Rondos - particularly the latter in its extensive use of the lower register of the instrument - reflect the percussive style of piano writing Bartók had discovered in the Allegro barbaro of 1911 but had largely suppressed until he developed it further in the Piano Sonata and Out of Doors in 1926 and the aggressive First Piano Concerto in 1927. Rare examples of the new piano technique applied to genuine folk song, they preserve the Slovak identity of their material as clearly as they define the rondo structure in which the themes are presented.