MIKLÓS RÓZSA (1907-1995): String Quartets No. 1, Op. 22 and No. 2, Op. 38, String Trio, Op. 1 (original 1929 published version - World Premiere Recording).

Description: Although the vivid colors and melodies of Rózsa's film-scores are not ever-present in his serious music, there are plenty of hints of his Hungarian homeland in his first quartet (written in 1950 while he was working on the score for Quo Vadis), especially in the nostalgic, nocturnal Lento. The second is a late work (1981), in a sparer style but still with a dash of Hungarian flavor in its sardonic scherzo. The half-hour long trio of 1927 has, as the composer himself put it, only "hazy" Magyar influence, it being mostly in standard, late Romantic idiom but with great verve and vitality. The 1974 LP recording was of a revised and partially rewritten version. Tippett Quartet.