Dohnanyi in London = DOHNANYI: Variations on a Nursery Tune; Ruralia Hungarica; Hiszekegy; MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1; BERLIOZ: Hungarian March; EGRESSY: Szozat – Pristine

by | Nov 12, 2010 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Dohnanyi in London = DOHNANYI: Variations on a Nursery Tune, Op. 25; Ruralia Hungarica, Op. 32B, No. 2 and No. 5; Hiszekegy; MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453;  LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1; BERLIOZ: Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust (2 versions); EGRESSY: Szozat – Erno Dohnanyi, piano and conductor/London Symphony Orchestra/ Lawrence Collingwood (in Op. 25)

Pristine Audio PASC 252, 79:37 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****:


Producer and engineer Mark Obert-Thorn restores the 1928 and 1931 sessions composer-pianist Erno von Dohnanyi – who toured with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra in London – found time between 16-18 June 1928 to record for Columbia.  Dohnanyi (1877-1960) inscribed the Berlioz Hungarian March twice, first for Columbia (16 June 1928) and then for HMV in Queen’s Hall, 18 June 1928. Dohnanyi returned to London in 1931 for February sessions in Kingsway Hall that produced the selection from Ruralia Hungarica and the Op. 25 Variations with Lawrence Collingwood and the LSO.

The Mozart G Major Concerto (17 June 1928) represents its first inscription on record, and the performance–which utilizes Dohnanyi’s own cadenzas–proves striking for its youthful flair and elegance of style. Dohnanyi, for all his luster and emotional focus, does not sacrifice Mozart’s pert humor, especially his deliberate breaking of the musical line in parody of the C.P.E. Bach style. The last movement easily becomes a wind serenade or piano quintet at key points, and the Budapest Philharmonic principals provide an alert, intelligent accompaniment to Dohnanyi’s inflamed keyboard pyrotechnics. The middle section of the last movement parodies Mozart himself, especially the patter between Papageno and Papagena in The Magic Flute. A magical rendition, often explosive and always lively and eminently musical.

The Liszt F Minor Rhapsody (16 June 1928) indulges more in gypsy colors than echt Magyar sources, but its rich orchestration allows Dohnanyi’s Budapest players–whom he had led since 1919–to indulge their fluent and aerial acrobatics in grand style, the melodic tissue directly related to the Hungarian Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra. The string glissandi and harp cadenza lead to an exalted friss section, witty and electric. That this performance provided Ferenc Fricsay with the very model of his own musicianship seems irrefutable.

Producer Obert-Thorn calls the acoustic for the first Berlioz inscription “unforgiving,” and the dry spots in the strings’ countertheme sadly lack resonance. The HMV venue, Queen’s Hall, indeed proves “more expansive,” to quote Obert-Thorn. Even so, both recordings feature stirring, ominous bass chords and tremolandos, and the last pages allow the furies their moment in the martial sun. Obert-Thorn includes two songs or hymns, Egressy’s Szozat (Summons) and Dohnanyi’s Hiszekegy (I Believe), recorded in Queen’s Hall 18 June 1928. The Egressy proves an ardent work, reminiscent of passionate moments in Sibelius. Dohnanyi’s wafts an ardent string chorale that occasionally reminds one of Dvorak or Slavonic organ sonority. The Molto vivace (No. 5) from Op. 32B is overtly a Brahms Hungarian Dance, cross-fertilized by ripe Lisztian orchestration.


The No. 2 from Ruralia Hungarica (23 February 1931) is marked Presto ma non tanto and exploits a kind of pentatonic modality for its witty and skittish effects. Some will detect a vague reference to the fast sections of Dvorak’s Czech Suite. Dohnanyi’s most familiar score, the 1914 Variations of Nursery Theme (21, 23 February 1931) parodies any number of Wagnerian conventions, along with the obvious Mozart allusion in the theme. In the course of thirteen variations, Dohnanyi laughs at the Viennese waltz, modal harmonies in Faure, Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a tune or two from Tchaikovsky, and several Debussy formulas. The brilliance of the writing likely has the Brahms Handel Variations as its source, with a clear variation alla musette, in deference to that same Brahms work. The seamless splicing of the 78 rpm sides would entirely make us forget the antiquity of this inscription, except for the crackle of the originals, which easily yields to the elastic and blazing polish of the musicianship.

We must applaud the breadth of this restoration, casting a covetous eye to those Remington LPs Dohnanyi cut of music by Schumann and Beethoven, as well as collaborative work with violinist Albert Spalding, all of which deserve a return to our contemporary sound world.

— Gary Lemco

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