The Hungarian Viola

FERENC FARKAS (1905-2000): Romanian Folk Dances, Arioso, ERZSÉBET SZÖNYI (b.1924): French Suite, ANTAL DORATI (1906-1988): Adagio, JÓZSEF SOPRONI (b.1930): Sonatina, LÁSZLÓ WEINER (1916-1944): Viola Sonata, LAJOS SZÜCS (b.1948): Romance for Solo Viola, FRANZ LISZT (1811-1886): Romance oubliée.

Description: nly the Farkas Dances make overt use of Hungarian folk melos. The most striking works are Dorati's late (1987) 13-minute Adagio, an astonishingly intense and tortured work for a birthday present to his wife, and Weiner's 16-minute sonata from around 1939 which, if he hadn't been deported to and died in a German labor camp, would probably be pointed at today as the first major work of an important career. Soproni and Szönyi both tend toward neo-classicism. Máté Szücs (viola), Oliver Triendl (piano).