Béla Bartók composed his Dance Suite, which would become one of his most frequently-played compositions, in 1923. Although the themes are Bartók’s, they sound like peasant music: Hungarian, Romanian, Slovakian and Arabian, commingling in some of the movements.

As Bartók himself pointed out, “The melody of the first theme in the first movement is reminiscent of primitive Arabian folk music, whereas its rhythm sounds East European.” Thus he remained faithful to his guiding idea of confraternisation among peoples.

Tonight François-Xavier Roth and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra will perform the Dance Suite at the Lucerne Festival.

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