Trio Infuses ‘Transylvanian Folk Songs’ With Mystery And Clarity.

Lucian Ban, John Surman and Mat Maneri bring a fresh treatment — and musical chemistry — to the bare-bones folk transcriptions of the 20th-century Hungarian composer Béla Bartók.

There’s mystery in that bare-bones music and in much else on the album “Transylvanian Folk Songs.” But there’s clarity to it as well. Lucian Ban, John Surman and Mat Maneri listen to those vintage melodies as closely as they do to each other, making those old bones dance one more time.