Liszt Hungarian Dances

After her critically acclaimed recordings of Mozart (complete sonatas), Schumann and Schubert, Hungarian-born Klára Würtz turns to her compatriot Béla Bartók, presenting a representative selection of his piano works. She plays a powerful, rhythmically vital yet never “pounding’ Sonata, a colourful and vibrant Suite Op. 14, an uncompromising Allegro Barbaro, and a selection of pieces from Mikrokosmos and Gyermekeknek (For Children).

The project grew out of the musical acquaintance of the Hungarian double bass player Mátyás Szandai and the French violinist Mathias Lévy. After playing together in the Mathias Lévy Quartet, they decided to set up a project dedicated to Béla Bartók and invite to this the renowned Hungarian cimbalom player Miklós Lukács, a long-time companion of Mátyás Szandai. With the support of the Budapest Music Center, they made their first creative residency in January 2016. The debut concert of the trio took place on 27 May at the Hungarian Institute in Paris, followed by the recording sessions of the album at BMC and a full house concert at the Opus in January last year and further concerts in France during 2017.

James Ehnes has previously explored Béla Bartók’s concertos for violin and for viola, to great acclaim. This disc is the second in his equally successful survey of Bartók’s chamber music for the violin. His accompanist, once more, is Andrew Armstrong, a pianist praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique.

This album is a collection of musical expressions of passion, pieces by Hungarian composers from the 19th century to the present day. Franz Liszt was actually an Austrian-German cosmopolitan, but in his art and deeds he clearly declared himself Hungarian. Les Préludes is casting the struggles of life and, in a Faustian sense, the conflicts of creative work into music. Ferenc Lehár's life work is unquestionably connected to the peculiarly Austro-Hungarian musical genre of operetta. While the operettas and dances of the 19th century express and serve a real or desired feeling of life, the peculiarity of Lehár’s art is the clear connection it shows to the nostalgia that is typical of the 20th century. Ernő Dohnányi's musical thought is typical of late Romanticism, preserving the tools of German Romanticism, at the same time delicately and seamlessly integrating folk music into his art.