Bartok Romanian Dances - what grade

[dinosaurtales]

I may have spelled this wrong - but does anybody know what gade these pieces are?

[pianistimo]

grade level is always according to the school of playing and so this is according to wheaton?  they say grade 6.  i played bartok's rumanian folk dances for the first year of college (after quite a few years of playing).  the rhythms and nuances are actually quite advanced, to me - i played this in my first year of college.

www.wheaton.edu/Conservatory/handbook/pianolit.html

[nanabush]

I think that'd grade 10 rcm in canada, which is very advanced..., right before concert level pieces

[bernhard]

There are two sets of Romanian dances: Two Romanian dances. Op. 8a (Sz. 43) and the Romanian folk dances (Sz. 56) – which I believe are the ones you want.

David Yeomans, in his book “Bartok for piano” (Indiana) provides degrees of difficulty (musical and technical) for all of Bartok´s piano works according to the following scale:

Elementary, easy: 1 – 5
Intermediate, average difficulty: 6 – 10
Advanced, difficult: 11 – 15

His reckoning of the difficulty of these pieces is as follows:

No. 1 – Technical: 7; musical: 4
No. 2 – T 5; M 7
No. 3 – T6; M6
No. 4 – T8; M8
No. 5 – T9; M4
No. 6 – T10; M 6

They would be around grade 6 – 7 ABRSM.

(If you want the two Romanian dances op. 8a, these are far more challenging: No. 1 – T 12 ; M 11 and no. 2 – T 13; M 11)

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[dinosaurtales]

ah!  thank you Bernhard!  It was indeed the folk dances I meant. 

[bernhard]

You are welcome.

[I Love Xenakis]

Yeah.  The Two Rumanian Danses Op. 8a are just below the Etudes or Sonata.  They are my favorite bartok solo piano piece though.  Definitely worth looking into if you're up to it.