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Track(s) taken from CDA67735

Peregi verbunk 'Pereg recruiting dance', Op 40

composer

Hagai Shaham (violin), Arnon Erez (piano)
Recording details: June 2008
Jerusalem Music Centre, Israel
Produced by Eric Wen
Engineered by Zvi Hirshler
Release date: July 2009
Total duration: 6 minutes 9 seconds

Cover artwork: The Solitary Cedar (1907). Tivador Csontvary Kosztka (1853-1919)
Csontvary Museum, Pecs, Hungary / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Shaham's pungent, occasionally acidic string tone is perfect for Weiner's mixture of extravagance and cool … great elegance and flamboyant ease’ (The Guardian)

‘Highly enjoyable … full of charm and wit … the playing is exemplary … Shaham and Erez make the best possible case for these pieces, duly wearing hearts on sleeve where appropriate’ (International Record Review)

‘Hagai Shaham plays with a large, richly Romantic tone and a feeling for the grand gestures in which the music delivers its message and the ethnic matrix from which it emerged. But he also has the virtuosic flair to put across the most flamboyant numbers’ (Fanfare, USA)

„The excellent Israeli violinist Hagai Shaham and his accompanist of many years Arnon Erez (together they won the 1990 ARD Competition) have recorded Leo Weiner’s two magnificent early violin sonatas … with such devotion and such a feeling for the sensual glow of this music that, from the very first bar, one is totally transfixed by the art of their musical seduction … Hagai Shaham links a perfect technique with the mesmerizing beauty of his fiery sound; he embodies the ideal Hungarian gipsy-violinist, the highly cultivated Prince Charming who will give it 'his all' to cast a spell on his listeners … nowadays, violinists with such charisma have become very rare and should therefore be especially cherished … the old-fashioned magic of Shaham’s sound“ (Stereoplay, Germany)
The Csárdás Peregi verbunk (‘Pereg recruiting dance’) Op 40 is a perfect example of the verbunkos style, setting a received tune in a manner that descends straight from Brahms’s Hungarian dances (especially as they are presented in the violin-piano transcriptions by Joseph Joachim, recorded by Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez on Hyperion CDA67663). The languorous, even smoochy main tune betrays an urban, café-style sophistication. It is perfectly suited to the violin (though Weiner also made versions for clarinet and for viola), and the florid decoration of its later returns summons up the mental picture of a gypsy fiddler giving his all to entertain his audience.

from notes by Calum MacDonald © 2009

La csárdás Peregi verbunk op. 40 illustre à merveille le style du verbunkos, en mettant en musique un air standard d’une manière tout droit héritée des Danses hongroises de Brahms (surtout dans leur version transcrite pour violon et piano par Joseph Joachim et enregistrée par Hagai Shaham et Arnon Erez sur le disque Hyperion CDA67663). L’air principal langoureux, voire sentimental, trahit une sophistication citadine, de celles rencontrées dans les cafés. Il convient idéalement au violon (même si Weiner en fit aussi des versions pour clarinette et pour alto), et la décoration fleurie de ses reprises ultérieures nous évoque le tableau d’un violoneux tzigane donnant tout pour divertir son auditoire.

extrait des notes rédigées par Calum MacDonald © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Der Csárdás Peregi verbunk („Pereger Werbungstanz“) op. 40 ist ein perfektes Beispiel des Verbunkos-Stils, der eine überlieferte Melodie auf eine Art und Weise vertont, die direkt aus Brahms’ Ungarischen Tänzen (besonders wie in den von Hagai Shaham und Arnon Erez auf Hyperion CDA67663 aufgenommenen Transkriptionen für Violine und Klavier von Joseph Joachim) abzustammen scheinen. Die schmelzende, geradezu schmusige Hauptmelodie verrät urbane Kultiviertheit im Kaffeehausstil. Sie passt ideal auf die Violine (obwohl Weiner auch Versionen für Klarinette und Bratsche machte) und die üppigen Verzierungen ihrer späteren Reprisen beschwören die Geistesvorstellung eines Zigeunergeigers herauf, der alles Erdenkliche aufbietet, um sein Publikum zu unterhalten.

aus dem Begleittext von Calum MacDonald © 2009
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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