SKU: BT.EMBZ14992

The composer wrote of his work as follows: In the music of Hungary, folk songs are manifestly of great importance, on the other hand our ancient airs and dances play a modest role. For this work I have been influenced by dances of the 17th century, written by unknown amateurs in a relatively simple style. Most of these dances were recorded between the 14th and 18th centuries under the usual form of tablature notation. My interest in this music was first captured in the 1940s. I was so fascinated that I decided to give these melodies new life. I fitted the little eight-bar dances together into ternary and rondo forms, and leaning on early Baroque harmony and counterpoint, Iattempted a reminiscence of that atmosphere of the provincial Hungarian Baroque.

So schrieb der Komponist über sein Werk:

In der ungarischen Musik sind natürlich die Volkslieder sehr wichtig, doch die alten Melodien und Tänze spielen in unserer Musik eine geringere Rolle. Für dieses Werk habe ich mich von Tänzen des 17. Jahrhunderts anregen lassen, die von unbekannten Dilettanten, also ziemlich einfach, geschrieben worden waren. Die meisten waren in der zwischen dem 14. und 18. Jahrhundert geläufigen Tabulaturschrift notiert. In den vierziger Jahren begann ich mich erstmals für diese Musik zu interessieren. Ich war davon so fasziniert, dass ich mich entschloss, sie wieder zum Leben zu erwecken. Ich fügte die kleinen achttaktigen Tänze zu dreiteiligen undRondoformen zusammen. Ausgehend von der frühbarocken Harmonik und Kontrapunktik habe ich mich in einer Art ungarischen provinziellen Barocks versucht.“.

SKU: BT.EMBZ12368

9x12 inches.

The teachers under whom Árpád Balázs (b.1937) studied composition - Ferenc Farkas, Aram Khachaturian and Goffredo Petrassi - each independently formed the opinion that with his lyrical gift Árpád Balázs's true creative field would be that of choral music and wind ensembles. Their early predictions are borne out by the roughly two hundred and fifty works for choir and almost twenty for wind orchestra that the composer has since produced. It is interesting that in the suite entitled Négy kép (Four pictures) the stylistic features of these two related musical fields are united. In it the wind instruments sing! It was not by chance that the expansive second movement was given thetitle Cantilena, while the slightly livelier but just as lyrical third movement was entitled Arietta. The opening movement of the work is a stridently jolly, energetic Induló (March), but not one of the rigidly military kind: the 6/8 rhythm contributes to its light-hearted character. This music is avowedly akin to the ballet music of Prokofiev. This choice series of four character pieces is crowned by Játék (Play) in which conveying the effect of the mixture of lines moving in parallel and then colliding with each other may be more technically demanding, but is well worth the effort! (Hungaroton HCD 31353).

SKU: HL.50602096

ISBN 9781540062307. UPC: 888680961305.

The composer wrote of his work as follows: In the music of Hungary, folk songs are manifestly of great importance, on the other hand our ancient airs and dances play a modest role. For this work I have been influenced by dances of the 17th century, written by unknown amateurs in a relatively simple style. Most of these dances were recorded between the 14th and 18th centuries under the usual form of tablature notation. My interest in this music was first captured in the 1940s. I was so fascinated that I decided to give these melodies new life. I fitted the little eight-bar dances together into ternary and rondo forms, and leaning on early Baroque harmony and counterpoint, I attempted a reminiscence of that atmosphere of the provincial Hungarian Baroque.