Ferenc Farkas: Chamber Music, Volume Six
This thirteenth release in the Toccata Classics exploration of the music of Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) puts some of his chamber music with violin in the spotlight – bookended here by two works for string quartet. As with previous albums in this series, the music highlights the characteristics that make Farkas’ music so appealing: catchy tunes, transparent textures, buoyant rhythms, a fondness for Baroque forms and a taste for the folk-music of his native Hungary that marks him out as a true successor to Bartók and Kodály.
Gyula Stuller, violin (5–25)
Yukari Shimanuki, viola (5–14)
Dénes Várjon, piano (15–25)
Stuller Quartet (1–4, 26–28)
Gyula Stuller, Barnabás Stuller, violins
Yukari Shimanuki, viola
Júlia Stuller, cello
Listen To This Recording:
- I Allegro
- II Andante
- III Scherzo
- IV Allegro
- No. 1 Prelude
- No. 2 Chorale
- No. 3 Sonatina
- No. 4 Träumerei I
- No. 5 Pizzicato
- No. 6 Träumerei II
- No. 7 Game
- No. 8 March
- No. 9 Nocturne
- No. 10 Vision fugitive
- I Allegro con slancio
- II Largo
- III Presto
- Rumanian Folk Dances from Bihar County for violin and piano
- I Allegro molto
- II Andante
- III Scherzando
- Alla danza ungherese for violin and piano
- I Allegro non troppo
- II Andante moderato
- III Allegro
- I Allegro maestoso – Allegro impetuoso –
- II Moderato – Andante –
- III Moderato – Allegro svolazzante
Piccola musica di concerto for string quartet (1961)
Ten Studies for violin and viola (1997)*
Sonatina No. 1 for violin and piano (1930)*
Rumanian Folk Dances from Bihar County for violin and piano (1950)*
Sonatina No. 2 for violin and piano (1931)
Alla danza ungherese for violin and piano (1934)*
Sonatina No. 3 for violin and piano (1959)*
String Quartet (1970–72)
* FIRST RECORDINGS
Fanfare Magazine :
‘[Three Violin Sonatinas] do not sound too difficult to perform and would be wonderful works to include on recitals given by moderately advanced players. […]
I found both [Rumanian Folk Dances from Bihar County and Alla danza ungherese] most attractive and deserving of wide performance—they would make excellent encore pieces. […]
The members of the Stuller Quartet and Hungarian pianist Dénes Varjon, all perform their respective works most admirably and idiomatically, in a fashion that surely would have pleased the composer. The lifelike and musical recording, as well as Toccata’s usual thorough program notes, add to the attraction of this release. Readers should not need my urging to acquire this disc, although I’ll urge them anyway.’
—David DeBoor Canfield, Fanfare Magazine, Jan/Feb 2024