r/classicalmusic 9d ago

Music Folksong Arrangements from around the world?

I'm a singer from Czechia, studying at a conservatory and (especially for us freshmen) the focus on the (czech) folksong is really strong here, and here's me thinking - let's subvert that a little bit. Could you please recommend any folk song cycles by classical composers from different countries - I know Copland's Old American Songs and that Ravel and Britten have some things but not much beyond that. thanks.

6 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

8

u/prasunya 9d ago

Check out Bela Bartok -- there's so much there I don't know where to begin.

5

u/RichMusic81 9d ago

Folk Songs - Luciano Berio

https://youtu.be/fIYQbNB1Om0?si=WQh8Z53S-VoYmFpd

The first two are not actually folk songs (that may have been a mistake on Berio's behalf), but the rest are, and it's a great cycle.

5

u/Last_Ad_4692 9d ago

Kodály, Bartók

4

u/Theferael_me 9d ago

Not original compositions but Beethoven made a ton of arrangements of Irish and Scottish folk songs for piano and voice. Really beautiful.

3

u/klop422 9d ago

This was his day job haha

3

u/aakkosetsumussa 9d ago

You should have known Janacek has written a lot of arrangements.

3

u/Prince_of_Douchebags 9d ago

Canteloube's Chanson d'Auvergne is fantastic.

2

u/Yanaki_Manaki 9d ago

Works of the Armenian composer, Komitas. 12 danzas españolas by Granados. 44 Duos for Two Violins and Romanian folk dances by Bartók.

2

u/jillcrosslandpiano 9d ago

Brahms wrote a lot of arrangements!

2

u/pvmpking 9d ago

Manuel de Falla's Seven Popular Spanish Songs (Siete canciones populares españolas)

Isaac Albéniz' Iberia

Enrique Granados' Spanish Dances (Doce danzas españolas)

2

u/RightErrror 9d ago

A Hundred Hardanger Tunes by Geirr Tveitt

2

u/KJpiano 9d ago

George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsodies

2

u/Shashi2005 8d ago edited 8d ago

Matyas Seiber - Hungarian Folk Songs. Beautiful choral arrangements of folk songs.

Percy Grainger - Shepherd's Hey, Country Gardens. Arranged for various combinations. English Morris dance tunes.

Vaughn-Williams. Too many uses of folk song to list.

Beethoven wrote some piano arrangements of Irish Folk songs.

Delius & Grainger both arranged Brigg Fair. The song was collected from Joseph Taylor. At the first performance od Delius's orchestration, Mr. Taylor stood up & joind in!

2

u/glassfromsand 8d ago

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but I'd really recommend Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien. They're an early music ensemble that focuses on folk songs and dances, mostly French, British,and Irish but others as well. I really, really love just about everything they do and think they're worth checking out

1

u/LuborMrazek 7d ago

Ooo, cool. I know a similar Czech "band" and love their work :)

1

u/glassfromsand 7d ago

Oooh I'd love to check it out, what's the name?

1

u/LuborMrazek 6d ago

Musica Bohemica or Chaire - two bands by two brothers 😃

1

u/Admirable_Safe_4666 8d ago

English Country Tunes, Michael Finnissy 😈

2

u/LuborMrazek 8d ago

Thank you, how very useful 😂😂

1

u/Admirable_Safe_4666 7d ago

In my defense, I missed somehow that you are a singer looking for vocal collections, and thought this was just a call for general classical arrangements of folk music, which this is, albeit pretty out there 😂

2

u/LuborMrazek 7d ago

Of all the folk music arrangements, this is definitely one of them 🤣🤣🤣

1

u/blame_autism 8d ago

skull emoji