Ferenc Farkas: Orchestral Music, Volume Six
Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) is often viewed as a gifted miniaturist, sifting through Baroque and popular Hungarian sources to produce glittering orchestral dances of infectious energy. That Farkas does indeed exist, as in the suite from the ballet The Sly Students, but this album also shows an entirely different side to his musical personality. His Preludio e Fuga finds him experimenting with dodecaphony – but he offered a caution: ‘In the twelve-tone theme of the fugue, I did not use Schoenberg’s orthodox model but a softer form, more euphoric, with a rounder and more attractive sonority – I am thinking of works by Luigi Dallapiccola or […] Frank Martin’. His only symphony was a victim of Communist orthodoxy, so severely criticised at Party meetings that Farkas shelved the score. This first complete recording reveals a work that is both big-boned and big-hearted – one of the finest of all Hungarian symphonies.
MÁV Symphony Orchestra
Gábor Takács-Nagy, conductor
Listen To This Recording:
The Sly Students Suite (1949)** (20:25)
- I. Fair in Debrecen (4:10)
- II. Air de danse (2:27)
- III. Students’ Dance (4:22)
- IV. Gypsy Music (1:30)
- V. Pas de deux (3:15)
- VI. Finale (4:41)
Symphony (1952)* (35:04)
- I. Moderato – Allegro agitato (10:34)
- II. Elegia (10:04)
- III. Scherzo (6:06)
- IV. Finale (8:20)
Preludio e fuga (1944-47)** (9:11)
- Preludio (3:25)
- Fuga (5:46)
*First Recording
**First Digital Recording
The Ultimate Classical Music Guide :
‘These are interesting pieces. They really are. […]
[The symphony] is a very, very fine work. […] It has some very cool sounds in it. It exploits the full range of the symphony orchestra. […] The melodic material is memorable. It’s well-proportioned. […] It’s really a fine work and definitely worth investigating. […]
The disc opens with a lovely ballet suite, The Sly Students Suite. […] Oh they’re delicious, they really are. […] It’s charming, it’s just full of charm. It’s colourfully scored. […] the Pas de deux is beautiful really, really lovely. It’s passionate and I guess romantic, but somehow There’s a certain reserve or clear-headedness to it that keeps it from to sound like another Tchaikovsky knockoff, it really doesn’t. There’s real talent here. […]
The symphony is definitely worth hearing.’
—David Hurwitz, The Ultimate Classical Music Guide
MusicWeb International :
‘Toccata Classics have therefore done a great service to the musical world in producing, since 2002, an ongoing series of both his chamber and orchestral works. Previous CDs have, rightly, been positively reviewed on MusicWeb. […]
[Farkas’s music] has a wonderful grounding in traditional techniques and Hungarian folk music, and is brilliantly orchestrated. […]
[The Sly Students Suite} is a really enjoyable work that should find a place in the concert hall. […]
{The Symphony] is an immensely engaging work. […]
The production values are up to Toccata’s usual high standards with informative notes by László Gombos.’
—Paul RW Jackson, MusicWeb International
Limelight :
‘Editor’s choice
The ballet suite is vigorous and tuneful, recalling ballets by French composers such as Ibert and Sauguet, and displays Farkas’s skill in orchestration to the full. (He studied orchestration with Respighi, no less.)
[…] this recording demonstrates what a fine four-movement symphony this is in its entirety. The structure is solid, with exciting fast music and a lovely, tender slow movement. It is as substantial as any post-war, European symphony, and unmissable if you are interested in the form or the period. […]
Despite its use of 12-tone harmony, [Prelude and Fugue] clearly came from the same pen as the others and shares their high musical quality. […]
All three works are communicative and absorbing. The MÁV Orchestra of Budapest under Takács-Nagy play to the manner born, and the sound is lucid and spacious.’
—Phillip Scott, Limelight
Fanfare :
‘The performances all seem more than adequate… There is enough attractive music here to reward the curious or adventurous listener.’
—Henry Fogel, Fanfare
Fanfare :
‘All three works here are communicative and absorbing. The MÁV Orchestra of Budapest under Takács-Nagy play to the manner born, and the sound is lucid and spacious. Recommended.’
—Phillip Scott, Fanfare
American Record Guide :
‘Though he was curious and cognizant of modernist developments, his music is resolutely tonal, straightforward, tuneful, and transparent. His Prelude and Fugue (1941/47) belies his outlook: though technically dodecaphonic, it remains direct, friendly, and tuneful. […]
The music [of the The Sly Students] is delightful—light, lively, and tuneful. […]
Farkas was drawn to simple, melodic beauty and modest heights and pursuits; on these terms, his music succeeds. […] Good performances, good sound. Extensive notes on the composer and his work.’
—Faro, American Record Guide