Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm

These six dances form the final culmination of Bartók’s “Mikrokosmos” (HN 1408-1410), that work of the century comprising over 150 pieces. He dedicated this grouping, collected under its own title, to the famous English pianist Harriet Cohen. Inspired, this specialist for contemporary music found in them “a whole world of music” and championed the pieces.

Bartók himself added the dances to his concert repertory early on, though initially in a reduced form that omitted the fifth dance, which was not composed until the end of 1939 as one of the last works of the collection. Our practical, standalone Urtext edition of these six dances also features an early version of the concluding piece and supplies interesting background details about Bartók’s own recital practice. This edition’s musical text is based on that of the Bartók Complete Edition.