Gergely Vajda & Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

“A continuation of ‘Cantata profana,’ ” said Romanian-Hungarian music historian Ferenc László about György Kurtág’s Colindă-Baladă. In his cantata, Kurtág used the text and melody of a traditional Romanian-language Christmas carol collected by Hungarian composer Bartók: the song tells the story of love between the Sun and the Moon, brother and sister. Written for tenor solo, choir and chamber ensemble, the composition evokes the spirit of Bartók and recalls Kurtág’s youth in Romania while also connecting the musical piece to both the pagan and the Christian past through the archaic text of the work. The folk song adaptation series entitled ‘Falun (In the Village)’ is an important piece of Bartók’s lifework in many aspects. The music is dedicated to Bartók’s second wife, Ditta Pásztory. The piece was written at a time of a creative crisis, which came to a definitive end in 1926, which constituted the beginning of Bartók’s creative period.