Of the many works Bartók composed on Hungarian and Romanian folk melodies between 1914 and 1918, these three piano pieces occupy a special place. Originally outlined for the collection 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs (Urtext edition HN 1404), the drafts were left untouched for the next twenty years. Not until 1941, when Boosey & Hawkes asked the composer to contribute to an anniversary album for the great pianist Ignaz Paderewski, did Bartók, now settled in the United States, return to these long sin