MIKLOS ROZSA: Viola Concerto; Hungarian Serenade – Gilad Karni, viola – Budapest Concert Orchestra/ Mariusz Smolij – Naxos

by | Jun 12, 2010 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

MIKLOS ROZSA: Viola Concerto; Hungarian Serenade – Gilad Karni, viola – Budapest Concert Orchestra/ Mariusz Smolij – Naxos 8.570925, 60:41 ****:

Although Miklos Rozsa (1907-95) is remembered as the composer of the music for over 80 movies, his concert music is of considerable significance. The nostalgic lyricism of his music was deeply influenced by the Hungarian folk music of his native country. The Magyar folk dances he heard as a youth imbued his music with “rapidly varying rhythms and time signatures, syncopations and motoric energy.” He started studying music at the age of 5 and when he was 8, he performed a movement from a Mozart Violin Concerto dressed up as the boy Mozart. In Budapest High School he organized matinees of modern music that included music of Bartok and Kodaly. He studied music in Leipzig and in 1925 his Hungarian Serenade was performed by the composer-pianist Erno Dohnanyi. The reception of this new work was perfunctory until the audience saw Richard Strauss applauding wildly. The 1952 revision of the Hungarian Serenade on this disc begins with a jaunty Hungarian Marcia, continues with a beautiful and bittersweet Serenata and then a frivolous and easy flowing Scherzo. A nostalgic, romantic Nocturne follows and the work concludes with a full-throated Danza.

The Viola Concerto was the last orchestral work of Rozsa, completed in 1979, honoring the death of the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. The premiere was in 1985, with a young Pinchas Zuckerman as soloist. Rozsa had been writing film music for 39 years by the time he composed the Viola Concerto, and the work has a cinematic sweep to it. Although the melodic fecundity of his film scores is present, it’s a masterfully structured concerto for an instrument that needs more works that have its distinctive quality. Contrasting a dark dramatic theme with a more beautiful lyrical one, the lengthy first movement is a melodramatic tour de force. A humorous and deft scherzo is a delightful contrast. The wistful nocturne that follows is succeeded by an animated finale.

Gilad Karni plays the viola with a combination of virtuosity and heartfelt emotion. The Budapest Concert Orchestra, although not a major group, plays competently. The recording favors the viola slightly, but the orchestral details are clearly present. If you love the film music of Miklos Rozsa, this recording will convince you that he also was a significant composer of concert music.

— Robert Moon

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01