This disc is part of a delightful series of Hungarian releases revisiting some unusual
Kodály works under the baton of veteran conductor
Adam Fischer. Here he leads the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, whose brass section executes
Kodály's comic lines without a hint of stress. There is one familiar repertory item here: the Háry János-Suite, a colorful, at times laugh-out-loud funny (if you dare) set of episodes from a picaresque comic opera.
Fischer catches the work's slightly twisted marches (including "La Marseillaise") and effects like the Viennese Musical Clock (track 2) with understated effect. The other two works on the disc show the evolution of
Kodály's folk-influenced language from late-Romantic intervallic flavoring to more structural conceptions. The rarity here is the symphonic poem Summer Evening, a student piece written in 1906 and revised in 1928 with a dedication to
Arturo Toscanini. It's a calm piece of orchestral reverie with pentatonic melodies resounding in the night air. The Variations on a Hungarian Folk Song (The Peacock) are especially nicely explicated in the informative booklet notes by Anna Dalos (in Hungarian, French, and English). In this work
Kodály brings together the motivic treatment of
Beethoven's large set of Eroica Variations, Op. 35, whose external pattern
Kodály follows closely (down to appearance of the bass line as the initual gesture), and his explorations of Hungarian folk music. It's not a simple work, and
Fischer's slightly restrained reading is once again ideal even if some of its toughest brass passages do slip slightly out of control. The graphic design in this series is fresh, and the studio sound is clear and attractive. A good choice for anyone from serious
Kodály fans to listeners whose ears have been caught by the Háry János-Suite.