# Composers of Hungary



## Guest (Aug 9, 2019)

Recently I had the opportunity to spend 1 1/2 months living in Hungary as we went there to adopt a little girl. I toured much of the Northern half of the country and fell in love with so much of it. I am making an attempt to familiarize myself now with much of the culture of the country to be able to share with my daughter as she gets older, not wanting her to lose that part of who she is.

So as part of it, I'm hoping to more familiarize myself with the music of that country - and I know it has a rich classical music history. Many famous conductors - George Szell, Georg Solti, Eugene Ormandy, Antal Dorati, Ferenc Fricsay, Fritz Reiner, to name a few - came from this country. Sadly, while I know some names of Hungarian composers, the only ones I am relatively familiar with are Bela Bartok and Ferenc Liszt (the Hungarian rendition of Franz - although as I understand it Liszt didn't speak a word of Hungarian).

So my question here is what further Hungarian composers are interesting to know? I will state at the outset that modern composers give me a more difficult time - not that I would reject them, but I certainly have an easier time with baroque, classical and romantic composers.

So who should I seek out?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Kodály, Dohnányi, Ligeti, Rózsa


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Jacck said:


> Kodály, Dohnányi, Ligeti, Rózsa


Plus György Kurtág, and that's all the Hungarians I know.


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

György Kurtág


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2019)

Kurtág might take a bit longer to get.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Do try Laszlo Lajtha, a more modern symphonist, a sort of Magyar Shostakovich!?

Some Dohnanyi is worth hearing too. Also the father of Hungarian Opera, Ferenc Erkel.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The bigger names have mentioned.

Also: Sandor Veress (concertante works, quartets), Andras Mihaly (Cello Concerto); Leo Weiner.

Early Romanticism: Mosonyi.
Late romanticism: Viski.

Very much off the beaten path: Peter Eotvos, Pal Kadosa, Gyorgy Kosa, Josef Soproni, Istvan Lang, Laszlo Sary, Gyorgy Ranki, Sandor Szololay, Bardos.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

How has Karl Goldmark not been mentioned yet??

I second (or third, whatever it is) Ligeti, Kurtág, and Eötvös.


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## sonance (Aug 20, 2018)

DrMike - Here are more composers "off the beaten path". Of those I've got only recordings by Frid, Seiber, Pártos, and Farkas, but I enjoyed looking for more. Wishing you, too, a joyful musical journey ...

Géza Frid (1904 - 1989; Hungarian-Dutch)
Podium Suite




String Quartet no. 4 (first movement)





There is also a historical recording with orchestral works (which I don't know yet, it's on my wishlist though). For example:
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, first movement:





Mátyás Seiber (1905 - 1960; Hungarian-British)
String Quartets 1 - 3. My recording is by the Edinburgh String Quartet. YouTube offers only no.3 performed by the Amadeus Quartet (here: first movement)





Ödön Pártos (1907 - 1977; Hungarian-Israeli)
Viola Concerto no. 1 "Song of Praise" (first movement)


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## sonance (Aug 20, 2018)

continued

Ferenc Farkas (1905 - 2000; Hungarian)
Contrafacta Hungarica





Sándor Balassa (born 1935; Hungarian)
Phantasy for Harp and String Orchestra





Caspar Joseph [Johann Kaspar] Mertz (1806 - 1856; Austro-Hungarian)
Fantaisie hongroise





Emánuel Moór (1863 - 1931; Hungarian)
Cello Concerto





Jenö Takács (1902 - 2005; Austro-Hungarian)
Twilight Music


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## sonance (Aug 20, 2018)

continued and end

Tibor Serly (1901 - 1978; Hungarian)
Rhapsody for viola and orchestra





Jenö Hubay (1858 - 1937; Hungarian)
Violin Concerto





Not to forget traditional dances, instruments etc. - Just three examples

Csárdás (Monti)





Verbunkos (Bihari)





cimbalom


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## Guest (Aug 10, 2019)

Thank you for all the great recommendations. It will take me a while to check them all out.

For now I'm going further into Bartok. While I have had the Reiner recording of the Concerto for Orchestra for some time, I have now also procured recordings of the piano Concertos, violin Concertos, string Quartets, and Bluebeard's Castle to explore him further.

Right now it is putting my very limited Hungarian to the test just pronouncing all the names!


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Portamento said:


> *How has Karl Goldmark not been mentioned yet??*
> I second (or third, whatever it is) Ligeti, Kurtág, and Eötvös.


Probably because much, if not, most of his career was in Vienna (like, for instance, Lehar, himself a Hungarian).
But yes, he was Hungarian (who never really abandoned his roots).


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The late, great conductor and creator of the "Philadelphia sound," Eugene Ormandy, was Hungarian. He made it a point, in light of the likes of Szell and Reiner, to tell people not all Hungarian conductors were pricks.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Ormandy's quotes are as much fun as Yogi Berra's. But his seem to have been involuntary.

"Why do you always insist on playing while I'm trying to conduct?"
"I can conduct better than I count."
"I never say what I mean, but I always manage to say something similar."
"I told him he'd have a heart attack a year ago, but unfortunately he lived a year longer."

My favorite: "That's the way Stravinsky was -- Bup, bup, bup -- The poor guy's dead now. Play it legato."

http://www.public.asu.edu/~schuring/Misc./Ormandy.html


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

There's been a comprehensive coverage here already but I'll add the lutenist Balint Bakfark who I'd guess is the earliest Hungarian composer of any significance. He lived in the 16th century and there are pieces by him on youtube.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

With four of the most major composers of the last 100 years - Bartok, Ligeti, Kurtag and Eotvos - Hungary must come close to "leading the field" for the period. France has probably given us even more.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Enthusiast said:


> With four of the most major composers of the last 100 years - Bartok, Ligeti, Kurtag and Eotvos - Hungary must come close to "leading the field" for the period. France has probably given us even more.


Is Eötvös really one of the most major composers of the century? I ask because I only just heard of him a couple weeks ago when I found a CD of him conducting works by Kurtág. I didn't even know he was a composer. What is a major work of his that's worth checking out?


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2019)

Bartók surely stands out in the group as having the widest appeal, looking just at the 20th century. But has Hungary made a bigger impact in terms of conductors? My spell check switched conductors for composers in a Google search, and it amazed me just how many big name conductors we're Hungarian. Reiner, Solti, Szell, Fricsay, Iván Fischer, Eugene Ormandy, Doráti, Kertész. Some of those names were, and still are, Giants.

I've listened to the Bartók piano Concertos, and really enjoyed them. Moving on to the string Quartets.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

flamencosketches said:


> Is Eötvös really one of the most major composers of the century? I ask because I only just heard of him a couple weeks ago when I found a CD of him conducting works by Kurtág. I didn't even know he was a composer. What is a major work of his that's worth checking out?


I did think I was being a bit provocative but I have greatly enjoyed much that I have heard from him and also value him as a conductor (mostly contemporary but a stunning Beethoven 5 as well!). You could try CAP-KO (a piano concerto), Windsequenzen, Triangel, Intervalles-Interieurs, Replica (a viola concerto) ... or you might find something good that I don't know yet!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Imo, Laszlo Lajtha (1892-1963) is one of Hungary's best kept secrets. He composed nine symphonies all available on Naxos and Marco Polo labels. I have all of them. There are string quartets too. But I'm really into the symphonies. He was a wonderful orchestrator, and I find his works beautiful and interesting. I recommend 3,4,8,9 for starters.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2019)

starthrower said:


> Imo, Laszlo Lajtha (1892-1963) is one of Hungary's best kept secrets. He composed nine symphonies all available on Naxos and Marco Polo labels. I have all of them. There are string quartets too. But I'm really into the symphonies. He was a wonderful orchestrator, and I find his works beautiful and interesting.


I have seen the Naxos releases on iTunes and have been sampling them - very appealing. If only, for the cover art, they could have branched out and done something beyond simply different views of the Hungarian Parliament building. An impressive structure, no doubt, but even if you didn't go outside Budapest, there are numerous other magnificent structures that could have been used. I will grant that they did, for one, use an image of the Chain Bridge on the Danube.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I prefer the covers on Marco Polo label. I think they're the same performances by the Pecs Symphony.


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