21 Hungarian Dances (Piano), WoO 1

A collection of twenty one dances composed and arranged between 1858 and 1869, based on melodies Brahms encountered through Hungarian Roma musicians, most notably the violinist Eduard Remenyi, with whom he toured as a young pianist. He was careful to present them as arrangements rather than original compositions. They became hugely popular across Europe almost immediately, first as piano duets and later in versions for solo piano and orchestra. The fifth dance, in G minor, is by far the best known, though the whole set is full of the fiery, rhythmically free csardas style that fascinated Brahms throughout his life.