Concert Românesc

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