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Track(s) taken from CDA67735

Lakodalmas 'Wedding dance', Op 21b

composer
Weiner's arrangement of the first movement of his 1938 Divertimento No 2 for string orchestra, Op 21

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: 3 minutes 36 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)
Lakodalmas is a Hungarian wedding dance which Weiner arranged for violin from the first movement of his Divertimento No 2 for string orchestra Op 21, composed in 1938 (he also made a version for cello and piano that was championed by his pupil János Starker). It has the characteristic lassú–friss (slow–fast) alternation of tempi familiar from Liszt’s Hungarian rhapsodies, but Weiner inventively and effectively dovetails them several times.

from notes by Calum MacDonald © 2009

Lakodalmas est une danse nuptiale hongroise que Weiner arrangea pour violon à partir du premier mouvement de son Divertimento no 2 pour orchestre à cordes op. 21, composé en 1938 (il en fit également une version pour violoncelle et piano que défendit son élève János Starker). On y retrouve l’alternance de tempi typique lassú–friss (lent–rapide), bien connue grâce aux Rhapsodies hongroises de Liszt, mais Weiner, lui, les emboîte plusieurs fois avec inventivité et efficacité.

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

Lakodalmas ist ein ungarischer Hochzeitstanz, den Weiner aus dem ersten Satz seines 1938 komponierten Divertimento Nr. 2 für Streichorchester op. 21 arrangierte (er legte auch eine Fassung für Cello und Klavier an, für die sich sein Schüler János Starker einsetzte). Er arbeitet mit dem aus Liszts Ungarischen Rhapsodien bekannten charakteristischen lassú–friss (langsam–schnell) Tempowechsel, aber Weiner verzahnt die Tempi mehrmals phantasievoll und wirkungsvoll.

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

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