Composition database

This is the Composition Database of BMC, which includes information about works by composers that are either Hungarian or Hungarian by origin or live in Hungary.

Search
New search
Title of the work

Concert Românesc

Composer
Ligeti György
Original / Hungarian title
Concert Românesc
Foreign language / English title
Concert Românesc
Subtitle
For orchestra
Year of composition
1951
Type
Symphony orchestra
Instrumentation
2 fl. (II anche picc.), 2 ob. (II anche c.ing.), 2 cl., 2 fg. - 3 cor. (III outside of the ensemble), 2 tr. - perc. (2 esec. - ptto.sosp., ptti. a 2, tmb.picc., gr.c.) - strings: vl. 1, vl. 2, vla., vlc., cb.
Duration
12 min
Movements, parts
1. Andantino
2. Allegro vivace
3. Adagio ma non troppo
4. Molto vivace
Premiere information
22 September 1952, Hungarian Radio, Budapest; Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Gergely Pál (cond.)

1 April 1952, Budapest; Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Gergely Pál (cond.)

21 August 1971, Peninsula Music Festival, Gibraltar Auditorium, Fish Creek, Wisconsin, USA;with Peninsula Festival Orchestra, Thor Johnson (cond.)
Publisher / Source
Editio Music Budapest © 1954

Schott Music © 1996, LS 2764-01 (performance material on hire)
Available here!
Recordings
WSM 8573 88 261-2 - Berliner Philharmoniker, Jonathan Nott (cond.)
Deutsche Grammophone 477 7105, 2008 - Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen (cond.)
1 min. sample
1 1. Andantino
2 2. Allegro vivace
3 3. Adagio ma non troppo
4 4. Molto vivace
Remarks, other info
"After spending some time in Romania in 1949/50, studying at the Folklore Institute in Bucharest, I participated in several trips to record partly Romanian, partly Hungarian folk music (in Covasint near Arad and in Inaktelke near Cluj in the region of Kalotaszeg). The present four-movement concerto for orchestra (with string and wind solos) is based on a large number of Romanian folk tunes recorded by me, most of which exist on wax cylinders and records of the Bucharest Folklore Institute. In Covasint, on the other hand, I got to know the common harmonic idioms of Romanian peasant music which I have used in the Concerto in a stylised form. This orchestral composition was one of the ´camouflage pieces´, used to evade (1951) the imposed dictatorship in the field of arts. Though quite conforming to the ruies, the piece nevertheless turned out to be ´politically incorrect´ because of some forbidden dissonances (e.g. F sharp in B major). For today´s listener, it is hardly understandable that such minor tonal jokes were declared subversive. The ´Romanian Concerto´ reflects my deep love of Romanian folk-music (and of Romanian-Ianguage culture absolute). The piece was banned at once and not performed until many decades later." (György Ligeti - September, 2000)
 

Recordings

Title Publisher
Teldec
Preiser Records