Hungarian Festival

Hung St

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Cat No: 8550142

Release Date: 12 January 2000

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4891030501423

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: Hungarian Festival

Description
Hungarian FestivalZoltan Kodaly (1882 - 1967) Hary Janos Suite1. The Fairy Tale Begins 2. Viennese Musical Clock 3. Song 4. The Battle and Defeat of Napoleon 5. Intermezzo 6. Entrance of the Emperor and His CourtFranz Liszt (1811 - 1886) orch. Franz Doppler Hungarian Rhapsody No.1 in F Minor (originally No.14) Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in D Minor (originally No.12) Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D Major (originally No.9)Jeno Hubay (1858 - 1937) Hejre Kati, Scene from the Czarda, Opus 32 No.4 Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869) Hungarian March (Rakoczy March)Zoltan Kodaly shared with Bela Bartok the task of collecting andcodifying the folk-music of Hungary and adjoining regions once part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, and of creating from this a new national tradition,distinct from the purely Austrian and German schools of composition representedby some of the more conservative musicians in Budapest, and distinct, too, fromthe spurious so-called gypsy tradition that had found such favour in thenineteenth century.The opera HaryJanos, more of a popular tale than a true opera, was first performed in theHungarian capital in 1926. It centres on the exploits, largely imaginary, ofthe soldier Hary Janos, an inveterate liar, who sits in the tavern, tellinganyone who will listen to him of his famous adventures, escapades that includethe personal defeat of the French Emperor Napoleon, a love affair with theEmpress Marie-Louise, the shifting of the frontier single-handed, and, ofcourse, the receipt of lavish honours bestowed upon him by a grateful Emperor.The music, like the story, is essentially Hungarian. Its introduction,the opening of the Fairy-Tale, suggests that w hat will follow has all theexaggeration of a dream. In the Suite taken from the opera the excerpts are notkept in their original order, but the Prelude is followed by the famous musicalclock of Vienna, with its model soldiers that mark the hour.The Song thatforms the third movement of the Suite is the love-duet between Hary Janos andhis first love, Orzse, to whom he finally returns, a folk-song played first bythe solo viola and then transformed by the orchestra. It is followed by themock-epic in which Napoleon and the Marseillaise are put to flight, themovement ending in a funeral march, dignified by a melancholy saxophone.The Intermezzo is in the form of a Hungarian verbunkos, a recruitingdance, a musical means of augmenting the imperial forces, at a time when othercountries used drink and the press-gang. It leads to the last movement of theSuite, the Entrance of the Emperor and His Court, the climax of the hero'scareer, in his own imagination. A brisk march introduces the Royal Guard andthe Emperor himself, to a highly coloured orchestral accompaniment.The great pianovirtuoso Franz Liszt was born in 1811, the son of a steward employed by theEsterhazy family, in whose service Haydn had spent most of his career. Hisfirst public concert, as a boy, in Pozsony (Bratislava), aroused sufficientinterest among
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