Hungarian Dances

Experience the timeless beauty of Brahms' Hungarian Dances & Waltzes, performed by the Duo Degas (Pianists Gala Chistiakova and Diego Benocci), now available on OnClassical.

Brahms showed an early interest in Hungarian gypsy music, to which he had been introduced by his early acquaintance with Remenyi and his continuing friendship with Joseph Joachim, whose background was similar. In the 1850 she played gypsy melodies on the piano, some of which were never written down. The group of ten Hungarian Dances for solo piano was published in 1872, after earlier rejection of a smaller group of dances by a less acute publisher than Simrock, who issued the first set of dances in a piano duet version in 1869.

Brahms probably heard most of these tunes as a child growing up in Hamburg, played by the Gypsy orchestras that were famous for their 'Hungarian' dance tunes. These passionate and high-spirited melodies fascinate with their abrupt changes of mood, fanciful reveries and extravagant embellishments. Brahms may even have written a few of the melodies himself! But his hand is evident in the lush harmonies and emotional depth. This version for violin and piano was arranged by Brahms' friend Joseph Joachim, the greatest violinist of his generation. The dances are played brilliantly by violinist Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker, who captures flawlessly the wild exuberance and deep sorrow of these alluring tunes. Fabio Bidini is the ideal collaborator, and together they have produced an album of uncommon beauty and appeal.

At their best, and especially on home ground in central European repertory, Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic could produce electrifying music-making, as on the present recording of Brahms's Hungarian Dances made in Vienna's Sofiensaal in 1982. The recording was commissioned as part of Deutsche Grammophon's superb 8-volume, 62-LP "Brahms Edition", a survey of the composer's complete musical output which was released in 1983 to mark the 150th anniversary of Brahms's birth. Gramophone magazine's Robert Layton commended the warmth, eloquence and virtuosity of the Vienna Philharmonic's playing, adding that, though Abbado was scrupulous in his observation of the letter of the score, "the spirit of what Brahms liked to refer to as his 'genuine gypsy children' is always in evidence".

“Exceedingly satisfied with our musical collaboration on our Brahms/Schumann recording, I suggested to Helene Mercier that we take on the complete cycles of Brahms’s 21 Hungarian Dances and 16 Waltzes, Op.39, which, unlike me, she had already played in concert.

Brahms had long been immersed in the folk traditions and spirit of Hungary’s musical repertoire, not least through the famous violinist Ede Reményi, for whom he played as piano accompanist.

Brahms had long been immersed in the folk traditions and spirit of Hungary’s musical repertoire, not least through the famous violinist Ede Reményi, for whom he played as piano accompanist. Brahms employed melodies that he had heard, as well as those based on sheet music, and in this album his Hungarian Dances are presented alongside their source material and variants, as well as some elements that Brahms omitted from his settings. Contextualised in this way, the heroic strength and dynamism, as well as the melancholy of the Dances can be heard as never before.

Pianist Alexandre Tharaud and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras are long-established as a duo team, but this is the first time that Queyras has joined Tharaud for an Erato recording. They have chosen works that lie at the heart of the Romantic repertoire, all by Brahms: his two cello sonatas and the duo’s own transcriptions of six of the Hungarian Dances.

Pianist Alexandre Tharaud and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras are long-established as a duo team, but this is the first time that Queyras has joined Tharaud for an Erato recording. They have chosen works that lie at the heart of the Romantic repertoire, all by Brahms: his two cello sonatas and the duo’s own transcriptions of six of the Hungarian Dances.