Kinder- und Frauenchöre, Upper Voices a Cappella

'Bartók's two- and three-part choruses for children's and female voices, is his best-known choral cycle worldwide. His encounter with folk texts was the direct source of inspiration for his writing of vocal music. He marked the selected texts, in many cases refining them, and even later, during the compositional process, altered them further, mainly for rhythmic reasons. The titles of the final texts he either coined himself, referring to the folk custom conjured in the piece or the mood, or he used the first line of the folk verse as a title. Only a few of the folk verses are children's songs or songs for games: most of them have serious, grave contents, and are not only forchildren.'
(HCD 32523 Bartók New Series Vol. 23, Csilla Pintér)