The folk music of Hungary has long had a powerful influence on Western art music. Brahms, although he had no real intimate knowledge, was infatuated with it. Liszt was among the first to truly investigate the actual folk traditions, but it was not until Bartók and Kodály took to the tiny remote villages of Hungary with manuscript paper and wax cylinders that a true knowledge of Hungarian and Gypsy folk music came to pass. This PentaTone Classics album features five compositions heavily influenced by this research: Bartók's ...
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The folk music of Hungary has long had a powerful influence on Western art music. Brahms, although he had no real intimate knowledge, was infatuated with it. Liszt was among the first to truly investigate the actual folk traditions, but it was not until Bartók and Kodály took to the tiny remote villages of Hungary with manuscript paper and wax cylinders that a true knowledge of Hungarian and Gypsy folk music came to pass. This PentaTone Classics album features five compositions heavily influenced by this research: Bartók's Deux Portraits, Op. 5, and the First Rhapsody for violin and orchestra, Kodály's Dances from Galánta, the incidental music from Háry János, and Ligeti's Concert Românesc. With all this focus on Hungarian works, listeners may be surprised to discover the Portuguese Gulbenkian Orchestra directed by Lawrence Foster performing. In fact, this little-known orchestra delivers a remarkably powerful, gripping reading of these dynamic compositions and one of the best in memory. Foster captures...
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