The romantic nationalism swept over Europe from Germany in the early 1800’s. It is the philosophical idea of having a national identity through culture and especially the popular culture. Local stories, myths and songs in their original languages made everything seem more German, Danish, Romanian etc. The Danish flag is now used as an important national marker and is used not only by the Royal House and the military, but also by private people.

The great collections of national folklore is found in these years and for music, composers like Percy Grainger and Belá Bartók traveled the country sides to collect folk melodies and dance tunes. Bartók collected more 1,000 melodies and used many in his own works.

Bartók composed the Romanian Folk Dances for piano in 1915 and it should prove to be one of his most loved and enduring works. The melodies are from the Transylvanian region, who became part of Romania in 1920. The work consists of a series of short dances.

This work has often been arranged for different instrumentations and here we present a version for wind quintet, written by Carion’s horn player, David M.A.P. Palmquist.

Den nationalromantiske tanke spreder sig fra Tyskland ud i hele Europa fra starten af 1800-tallet. Det er tanken om at finde en national identitet gennem kulturen og særlig den folkelige kultur. Lokale historier, sagn og sange på eget sprog gør det hele særligt tysk, dansk, rumænsk e.l. I Danmark ser vi også vores flag brugt som en vigtig national markør og bruges nu både af Kongehus, Forsvaret og private.

Tidens store folkemindesamlinger lægges til grund her og indenfor musikken kendes især komponister som Percy Grainger og Belá Bartók, som rejste rundt og indsamlede folkeviser og danse i lokalegnene. Bartók samlede mere end 1.000 melodier og brugte mange i sin egen musik, primært for klaver.

Bartók skrev de rumænske folkedanse for klaver i 1915 og det skulle gå hen og blive et af Bartóks mest elskede værker. Melodierne stammer fra Transsylvanien, som var en del af Rumænien fra 1920. Værket består af en række korte danse.

Værket er ofte bleven arrangeret for forskellige besætninger og her er en version for blæserkvintet, skrevet af Carions hornist, David M.A.P. Palmquist.

This edition is scored for Wind Quintet:

Flute & Piccolo
Oboe
Clarinet in A
Horn in F
Bassoon