Hungarian Soldier Versus Soviet Soldier

Zoltán Székely is remembered today as the first violinist of the famed Hungarian String Quartet but he was also a distinguished soloist in his own right. He studied with the legendary Jeno Hubay and was rated the one of the finest Hungarian soloist of his generation. The Glazunov Concerto featured on this CD was the only commercial concerto recording Székely’s ever made. Also featured is the violinist’s celebrated transcription of Béla Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances. Székely performed frequently with Bartók in recital, and was the dedicatee of the composer’s Second Rhapsody.

Massenet’s Werther is one of those masterpieces that were rejected or shunned at the time of their creation. Sketched in the 1880s, the score was turned down by the director of the Opéra-Comique and had to make do with a premiere in German, far from Paris, before finally being heard in Paris in 1893. It gradually established itself as one of the composer’s most personal works, in which he showed himself to be as fine a colourist as he was a master of the art of the ‘motif de rappel’. In adapting Goethe’s novel, Massenet and his librettists gave greater prominence to the character of Charlotte, thus placing the struggle between duty and passion at the centre of the narrative.

Massenet’s Werther is one of those masterpieces that were rejected or shunned at the time of their creation. Sketched in the 1880s, the score was turned down by the director of the Opéra-Comique and had to make do with a premiere in German, far from Paris, before finally being heard in Paris in 1893. It gradually established itself as one of the composer’s most personal works, in which he showed himself to be as fine a colourist as he was a master of the art of the ‘motif de rappel’. In adapting Goethe’s novel, Massenet and his librettists gave greater prominence to the character of Charlotte, thus placing the struggle between duty and passion at the centre of the narrative.

Most of Elisabetta Brusa’s compositions have been written for orchestral forces, with four volumes currently available on Naxos. The two new choral pieces in this fifth volume offer a revealing look at the composer’s response to spirituality and her own feelings about the end of life. The Stabat Mater was written as a trial for the Requiem and features vocal parts that are often pushed to the limit of their extensions for maximum expressivity. Following traditional models, Brusa’s Requiem evokes an archaic atmosphere which gives the piece a medieval aura, contrasted with moments of luminous and transcendent music.