Enough Hungarian Dances? Maybe not.

May 14, 2007 at 7:00 AM

Karin and I just finished our spring recital at our studio and it went well. She played two pieces Schubert "The Bee", which was an interesting little piece like a bee meandering around looking for pollen. Then she played a marvelous Rachmaninoff Vocalise. Her violin sounded sweet and beautiful.

I followed with Hungarian Dance #2 and Hungarian Dance #5. I tried to be lively and then play with all the schmaltzy gooey dragged out parts contrasting with the tippy skippy parts. That was actually quite fun. One trick I used in #5 was to emphasis the lower note on the fingered octave. This way, if I wasn't totally in tune, it still sounded okay.

I also baby powdered my hands beforehand. This seemed to help. One guy who played before me, his fingerboard was glistening with spots of sweat. I imagine how uncomfortable that would be. Instead my fingerboard had baby powder on it and this made all the shifting easier.

Karin's girls were so cute. They sat still and paid attention real well.

Now I wonder if my teacher will let me learn #1 and #4 for the next recital, or maybe he's had enough Hungarian dancing for now. As I wrote in the thread about the 9 year old who wanted to quit, it's the Hungarian Dances that motivated me to continue playing violin when I was 9 and wanting to quit. When I was little I had an easier version to play. Now I finally got to play the real Joachim versions. And I love them!

From Albert Justice
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 11:28 AM

That sounds like great fun!.

From Karin Lin
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 4:15 PM

Wow, Clare, how did you have energy to blog after that long night? Thanks for the nice review; I and my family liked your performance too! Kyla (age 2) was making her stuffed giraffe dance to #2 and after you were done with #5 she said, "I like that song!" Glad you had fun and I'm looking forward to playing in the next recital with you. :)

From Anne Horvath
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 7:11 PM

It is not possible to overdose on too much Hungarian music. Having too much Hungarian music is like being too rich, or too thin.

Also, congratulations on a job well done.

From Maura Gerety
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 7:58 PM

Tökéletesen igazad van, Anna. :) "Too much Hungarian music" is like "too much love" or "too much happiness"--no such thing!

I must sheepishly report, though, that there IS such thing as too much Hungarian food--I overdosed on paprikás-csirke last night and I'm still feeling bloated.

From Anne Horvath
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 10:41 PM

The Four Hungarian Food Groups:

1) Meat
2) Sausage
3) Potato
4) Sour Cream

Get thee some bi-carb.

From Clare Chu
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 10:52 PM

Thanks. I toyed with the idea of playing the recital on a Guarneri model violin, but in the end stuck to my Strad model violin. It's probably all in my mind, but I feel that the Guarneri model violin evokes the Eastern European sound much richer. #1 has to be done on a Guarneri model. My Strad model is just too sweet and Italian sounding. :-)

From Clare Chu
Posted on May 14, 2007 at 10:54 PM

By the way, any other Hungarian violin music available?

From Anne Horvath
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 1:44 AM

Clare (and Karin), why don't you work up some (or all!) of the Bartok 44 Duos? They are so much fun, and just great music.

From Maura Gerety
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 1:46 AM

Re: Hungarian food,
Az isten szerelmére, Anna! You forgot paprika! ;-)

There's lots of great Hungarian violin music out there, but most of it is pretty difficult. Bartók's two Rhapsodies are masterpieces, but not easy to play! There is also a nice suite of folk songs from Bartók's "Gyermekeknék" that Joseph Szigeti arranged for violin and piano--some tricky bits, but not too bad. Bartók's violin concerto #2 is absolutely glorious and absolutely unplayable, and as we all know, Joachim's transcriptions of the Hungarian Dances are rather virtuosic.

Beyond those obvious things, there is another set of folk songs from "Gyermekeknék" transcribed by Tivadar Országh (check Editio Musica Budapest) which are much easier than Szigeti's suite but, IMHO, not as interesting. Zigeunerweisen actually uses some real Hungarian gypsy tunes but I'm not sure I would classify it as "Hungarian music", and I'm pretty sure there's a transcription (Szigeti again) of the Intermezzo from Kodály's "Háry János" floating around somewhere out there.

Also, to be completely frank, one could almost count the last two "Romanian Folk Dances" (Poarca Romaneasca and Maruntel) as Hungarian, since they display some very clear and striking Hungarian folk characteristics, especially the Poarca Romaneasca, which is clearly in a Hungarian form. (Specifically, it is the A-A-A5-A5 form discovered by Kodaly (though in most of those the tune repeats *up* a fifth, in the Poarca it goes down.) Both of them also have some vestigial pentatonic characteristics--makes me think they were originally Hungarian tunes that got "appropriated" by some Romanians. ;) Of particular interest to me are the last few measures of the Maruntel, with the embellished parallel fifths--I heard that exact type of fiddling from a folk fidder in the Székelyföld (that is an ethnic-Hungarian region of Romania) (and I heard it on a CD, don't worry). Clearly, the Maruntel was a violin piece to begin with. :)

From Maura Gerety
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 2:09 AM

Ugh, sorry for the dissertation! I got an amazing book on Hungarian folk music for my birthday yesterday and as a result I've been (a) singing tunes from Tolna and Udvarhely counties all day, and (b) prattling on like a sycophantic student of Bartók's in the ethnomusicology program at the Liszt Academy. So pardon my rantings. :)

Also, I completely forgot Hubay's "Scenes de la Csarda" in my list of Hungarian violin pieces. I think "Hejre Kati" might be the only one still in print, but they're loads of fun if you can track any of them down.

From Clare Chu
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 7:09 AM

Thank you Maura, I loved the dissertation. Of course, how can I forget Bartok? I was always envious of pianos with their Hungarian Rhapsodies, but we have Bartok and the "Roumanian Dances". I looked up the 44 duets. Ought to be fun. Karin, you up for it?

From Anne Horvath
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 4:23 PM

Bartok 44 Duos...Bartok 44 Duos...Bartok 44 Duos...

Also, excuse the digression, but Happy Birthday, Young Gerety. And, you do realize that I don't know any Hungarian...translations would be nice! (My Dad knows the "scolding" words).

From Karin Lin
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 5:05 PM

Of COURSE I'm up for it, Clare! :) I was just saying we should do some duets while our teacher is on vacation.

Happy birthday, Maura!

From Maura Gerety
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 5:18 PM

Whoops, sorry Anna. The first sentence I used was "you're exactly right", the second one was "for heaven's sake!" (and I had to use my handy online translator, so don't feel too bad.)

It was my *18th* birthday!! I put my voter registration papers in the mail and everything! :)

From Anne Horvath
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 6:16 PM

As we say in my home state of Kentucky, "Vote Early, and Vote Often". Enjoy the privilege.

From Clare Chu
Posted on May 15, 2007 at 9:08 PM

Happy Birthday Maura, and thanks for all the suggestions. Karin, looking forward to the dueting when our teacher is out.

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