Hyperion Records

Puszta Wehmuth (‘Longing for the Steppes’) is apparently based on a work by the Countess Ludmilla Gizycka, née Zamoyska, although no mention is made of this in the original publication. Zamoyska’s work, in turn, is based on a poem by Lenau. The piece is a sort of miniature rhapsody with rather simple texture with the characteristic slow (Lassan) and fast (Friska) sections, and with a reprise of the opening flourishes at the end.

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1991