Paavo Järvi conducts a folk-inspired work that was banned for many years.
György Ligeti was 26 years old when he discovered wax cylinders containing recordings of Romanian folk songs at the Folklore Institute in Bucharest. Later, he travelled through the villages of Transylvania himself to collect melodies. He incorporated some of these into his ‘Concert Românesc’, whilst others he composed himself for this work – ‘in the spirit of village bands’, as he put it. Despite its folk-like character, however, the music fell out of favour with the Stalinist dictatorship: the piece was banned after a single rehearsal and could not be performed in public until 1971, twenty years after its composition.
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Music Director
György Ligeti ‘Concert Românesc’
Recorded on 5. / 6. March 2025, Tonhalle, Zurich
Concert supported by Freundeskreis Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Here you will find further concert recordings by the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
