Ferenc Farkas - Orchestral Music, Vol. 2 (Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra)

Information

Composer: Ferenc Farkas

• Choreae hungaricae
• Aria e rondo all'ungherese for two violins and string orchestra
• Musica pentatonica for string orchestra
• András Jelky: Suite for string orchestra and piano
• Concertino for trumpet and string orchestra
• Finnish Popular Dances for string orchestra
• Partita all'ungaresca

Gyula Stuller, violin

János Rolla, violin

László Tóth, trumpet

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

Date: 2014

Label: Toccata

https://toccataclassics.com/product/farkas-orchestral-music-2/

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Review

This is the second in Toccata’s series devoted to the orchestral music of Hungarian composer Ferenc Farkas (see review of Volume 1). String works are the focus, dating from 1935 to 1994 and, as before, there are world premiere recordings to entice the prospective purchaser tempted by Farkas’ genial and often Baroque-tinged writing.

 

The Chorea Hungaricae is a 1961 reworking for chamber orchestra of some seventeenth-century dance tunes he had originally collected for a Hungarian film score in 1942 but subsequently arranged for different instrumental forces. The wind quintet version, for instance, is on TOCC0019. For the chamber orchestra version he selected groups of pieces from three original sources and Toccata presents the second and third books of the cycle, altogether containing eleven brief dances. These attractive pieces often have harmonised melodies courtesy of Farkas. The easy-going Aria e rondo all’ungherese takes anonymous eighteenth-century melodies and serves them up, sweetly lyrical, for the two violin soloists. Abandon thoughts of the concerto grosso or solo and ripieno; this is a much more sugary confection.

 

A starker impression is left by the early Musica pentatonica which explores elements of twelve-tone though cast in baroque-form movements – Toccata, Aria and Fuga. There’s a vague hint of chinoiserie in the central Aria and the fugue is crisp and springy. The picaresque adventures of András Jelky were characterised in a work for string orchestra and piano in 1973-74. Jelky (1738-83) was a serial captive whose misfortunes (captured by - but surviving - pirates and cannibals) and subsequent rise to eminence in the East in the eighteenth-century make Robinson Crusoe’s shipwreck sound like a tea party. Rhythmically exciting, there’s a lot of Hungarian folk ethos throughout, as well as local colour as he journeys far and wide. Some non-traditional techniques, such as using the bow against the body of the violins, add zest.

 

The Concertino for trumpet (1984) is couched in sonata form, typically concise, and well-orchestrated and well-scaled for the forces concerned. The best movement is the central one of three, a quite spare meditation of some spiritual depth. The earliest work dates from 1935 and is the set of Finnish Popular Dances, product of his work as a film composer. They are very light, brief and fluffy and make few interpretative demands. Nor, for that matter, does the Partita, which uses sixteenth-century – largely - Hungarian source material. Farkas wrote it to bring this music to wider attention. Harmonies are tasteful, and the music is catchy.

 

The music throughout is performed with warmth and buoyancy in a well-judged acoustic of the Italian Cultural Centre in Budapest. It is fatal to listen to too much in one go, especially the suite-like material. Taken as nourishment, slice by slice, these genial and mostly undemanding confections will prove enjoyable, though hardly indispensable.

 

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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Ferenc Farkas (15 December 1905 – 10 October 2000) was a Hungarian composer. He studied composition with Leó Weiner and Albert Siklós at the Budapest Music Academy, and was professor of composition at the Franz Liszt Music Academy of Budapest from 1949 to 1975. As a professor he was to have his greatest influence in the second half of the century. Among his students were György Kurtág, György Ligeti, László Kalmár, and Miklós Kocsár. Farkas's own works include over seven hundred opuses in all genres: opera, ballet, musicals and operettas, orchestral music, concertos, chamber music and sacred music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Farkas

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The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar) is a chamber orchestra based in Budapest, Hungary. The Orchestra took the name of the great composer, to pay homage to the genius who became inseparable with the establishment of Hungarian music. After having studied for years at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Orchestra made its debut in 1963 and since then has played a very significant role in Hungarian and international musical life. The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra consists of 17 strings, with the addition of other instruments as needed (harpsichord, winds, etc.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt_Chamber_Orchestra

https://www.lfkz.hu/en

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