Marian Varga

Marián Varga is a composer and keyboardist from Slovakia, born in 1947. After leaving the school - he joined the band Prúdy, which he left again after recording their cult album "Zvonte zvonky" (Jingle Bells). Right after he left, the formed the first art rock band of Czechoslovakia, Collegium Musicum. Heavily inspired by The Nice and later Emerson, Lake and Palmer the band became big in their country. Not surprisingly, given their music, Varga got the nick name "The Czechoslovakian Keith Emerson"…

A CD-reissue of this album by the highly regarded progrockers. The material was recorded at the studio of the country's national radio station in Bratislava, in 1975.
Collegium Musicum is a Slovak prog-rock band. Its founder and leading figure was Marian Varga, one of the most distinctive rock keyboardist. Their style is similar to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rick Wakeman, and The Nice. The band mostly known for interpretations of familiar themes from the works of classical music (such as Concerto in D by Joseph Haydn), and in this respect the most important group from the former Eastern Bloc.

Collegium Musicum is a Slovak prog-rock band. Its founder and leading figure was Marian Varga, one of the most distinctive rock keyboardist. Their style is similar to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rick Wakeman, and The Nice. The band mostly known for interpretations of familiar themes from the works of classical music (such as Concerto in D by Joseph Haydn), and in this respect the most important group from the former Eastern Bloc.
The group was formed in autumn 1969 and was apparently the first ever creator of art-rock music in Czechoslovakia. The core of the largest and most intense touring productivity formed the Marian Varga, bassist Fedor Fres and drummer Dušan Hájek. With the shorter breaks the group worked on the music scene in 1979. Later it Varga occasionally renewed several times, especially in 1981 due to the recording of divergences.

Essential: a masterpiece of prog rock music.
I leave you with this gem of symphonic-rock from Eastern Europe, this group is in the same style of "The Nice" and "ELP", so, ladies and gentlemen: "Collegium Musicum" from Slovakia.
There's much of Keith Emerson in Marion Varga's playing, but this double album is more than a tribute to a way of playing the Hammond.

Collegium Musicum is a Slovak prog-rock band. Its founder and leading figure was Marian Varga, one of the most distinctive rock keyboardist. Their style is similar to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rick Wakeman, and The Nice. The band mostly known for interpretations of familiar themes from the works of classical music (such as Concerto in D by Joseph Haydn), and in this respect the most important group from the former Eastern Bloc.
The group was formed in autumn 1969 and was apparently the first ever creator of art-rock music in Czechoslovakia. The core of the largest and most intense touring productivity formed the Marian Varga, bassist Fedor Fres and drummer Dušan Hájek. With the shorter breaks the group worked on the music scene in 1979. Later it Varga occasionally renewed several times, especially in 1981 due to the recording of divergences.

This band was active from 1971 until 1981 with six releases plus one live album. Their style is similar to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Rick Wakeman, and The Nice. There are clear Classical influences. The bands music consisted of vocals, guitars (Ludovít Nosko); keyboards (Marián Varga); guitars (Karel Witz); bass (Fedor Freso) and drums (Dusan Hájek). Their albums contain long tracks all composed by Varga. The compositions are solid and have Classical inspirations. An example is "Hommage a J.S. Bach" or "Concerto in D" and other tracks, the guitar have much space supported by superb keyboards (Hammond organ, mini Moog, piano).