RAPSODIA ROMINA MONITOR PRESENTS THE BARBU LAUTARU ORCHESTRA

INTRODUCTION

This album is being issued on the occasion of the first VISIt to the United States of Rumania's outstanding folk company, "RAPSO­DIA ROMINA." Columbia Artists Management, Inc., will first present the attraction at the Seattle World's Fair in late September, 1962, and thereafter on a transcontinental tour closing in New York City in December of the same year. "RAPSODIA ROMINA" includes both a group of dancers from the Rumanian National Folk E'nsemble and a phalanx of virtuoso musicians of the ~arbu Lautaru Orchestra, whose marvelous music as heard on this recording has been entrancing visitors to Bucharest ever since its founding in 1949. Nothing like these lautari has been seen or heard here before, as they appear on stage in native costume and, when noV perform­ing as soloists, accompany the dancers. Fully half the program of "RAPSODIA ROMINA" features the "Barbu Lautaru" in various instrumental medleys composed of many of the numbers heard on this recording. It is predicted that the rhythm and excitement of Rumanian popular music with its lively dances, its furious fiddles, its warbling pan-pipes, and the haunting appeal of its old-country tunes will generate a whole new brand of excitement on our mu­

sical scene. F. C. SCHANG, III

ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA

Shortly after August, 1944, the popular musicians of Rumania, or lautari, as they are called, organi~ed themselves' into orchestras. The idea was a successful one and by 1949 in Bucharest alone there were approximately ten popular ensembles, each one formed of between forty to one hundred players.

At first, these popular concert orchestras were hardly more than large bands resembling the groups they had temporarily formed in the past to perform at some important festivity or holiday. No special attention was ever given to sonority or balance and any lautari who wished could enter the ensemble of his choice, no matter what instrument he played . The popular musical repertoire was the old one, the music that which was played earlier at restau­

rants and cafes.

As a result of the new popularity achieved by the ensembles some growth and development began to take place. A conductor was in­troduced as head of each group and for the first time there was someone to co-ordinate the ensembles. The old musical instruments of the laut~ri, abandoned for a while, were re-introduced into the orches-tra and soon the pan-pipe and the lute played an ever more important role in the sound of the music.

Also to change were the conditions under which the orchestras would play. Formerly they had been entertaining at cafes and res­taurants amidst the noise of the revellers, and for an audience there was a public that often disdained and humiliated them. Now they find themselves playing in concert halls and in factory auditoriums, performing for audiences that receive them lovingly and appreciate

them as artists and musicians.

In the spring of 1949, the Folklore Institute came mto beIng, and with it, a new popular orchestra came into existence. It was born through the selection of the best lautari of some four hundred men of the ensembles performing at that tiJ!le. Almost immediatr.ly this experimental orchestra, numbering eighty members, passed the stage of being a large band. It became the first major popUlar con­cnt orchestra, with balance between the instruments that compose it, with an entirely new repentoire, and with a new enriched sound dominated by the pan-pipe, lute and flute. A distinc.tive sound was achieved by having arrangements exclusively made to suit its needs.

In 19'50, the Folklore Institute's Folk Music Orchestra under­took a tour of Cz.echoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary which proved to be highly successful. In the winter of 1951 -19 52, using the name of the celebrated Moldavian lautar, Barbu Lautaru, the group toured the Soviet Union. The Barbu Lautaru Orchestra has since actively toured and given numberless concerts in Rumania, Cz.echoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, bringing with it its own distinctive style of Ruma­nian folk music wherever it performs.

The . present recording comprises a few of the most representative pieces of the repertoire of the Barbu Lautaru Orchestra, arranged by the two conductors of the msemble, lonel Budi~teanu and Nicu St'anescu.

TIBERIU ALEXANDRU

SIDE ONE

A U y 1. SIRBA DIN CARUIA - Sirba Wagon Dance

This piece, a lautari original, is usually performed as a pro­gram opener. Lt is popular today because it is based on one note consistently struck on the strings of the cymbalom with a wooden rod. The sound is charaoteristic of the monotonous amble of a wagon on a country road. From this beginning stems the dance melody, enlivened by the violins and the remainder of the orchestra.

02.

~ 3.

MUGUR, MUGUREL - Primrose, Little Primrose This is an ancient song the serfs would sing to curse their

oppressors. "Beat, oh Lord, the boyars, as they are beating us."

HORA SAPTE SCARI - Hora of the Seyen SMirs This t60 is a lautari original. The lively development of the

melody of this piece suggests the image of the seven stairs.

t4. STELUTZA - Little Star (D. Florescu) Vocal Solo: Angela Moldovan

A young lover sings to a far off star which he thinks is as forsaken as he is.

, 5. GEAMPARALELE DOBROGENE - Geamp.rnalele Dance of Dobroud;a

A dance characteri~ed by its ternary rhythm.

" 6. CALU~UL DIN GORJ - Lillie Hom from Gor; This is an ancient dance tune from the Citenian region.

SIDE TWO

c 1. HORA STACCATO The fame of this piece has long ago cros~ed ,the Rumanian

borders. It was composed by the celebrated ·Bucharest lautar . Grigora~ Dinicu, and was later arranged for violin and piano by Jascha HeIfetz. and for symphOniC orchestra by the Bulgarian composer, Pancho Vladigerov.

- 2. PELIN BEAU, PELIN MANfNC -Wormwood I Drjnk, Wormwood I Eat.

The composer compa-res the bitterness or wormwood to the bit · terness of the miserable life of man exploited by man. "Wormwood I drink, wormwood I eat, at night I sleep on wormwood leaves, when I get up in the morning I wash my face with wormwood."

;.. " 3. SIRBA DIN MUSCEL - Sirba from Muw'l

Although this is a dance of the Muscel region, it was com' posed by a lautar from the Arges region. It is a lively dance which has achieved popularity over the last fifty years in all of the provinces of Rumania. It is performed with the dancers forming a row, arms holding one another's ~houlders.

. 4. IN FATZA OGLINZII - In Front of the Mirror Vocal Solo: Angela Moldovan

A young girl admires herself in the mirror and praises her own chann.

. 5. CHINDIA Like the Sirba, the dancers perform this number while in a

row. Originating in Wallachia, this dance is characteriz.ed by a picturesque interweaving of s.edate and of short and rapid steps.

.. 6. PERINIT A - Little Cushion Dance Latel/this dance has been gaining popularity, especially among

the younger people. It is a' levelling dance, one of many with a cushion used as a prop.

-Dlonitor MFS 377

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