These six dances form the final culmination of Bartók’s “Mikrokosmos” (HN 1408-1410), that work of the century comprising over 150 pieces. He dedicated this grouping, collected under its own title, to the famous English pianist Harriet Cohen. Inspired, this specialist for contemporary music found in them “a whole world of music” and championed the pieces.

Bartók himself added the dances to his concert repertory early on, though initially in a reduced form that omitted the fifth dance, which w...