The opening melody of No 8 serves as the modern national anthem of Slovakia (‘Lightning flashes over Tatra’) and may not be of Hungarian origin. After a short prelude the violin plays the anthem in its lowest register. The melody is treated in a fantasy style with frequent sudden modulations. The quicker tune also has a Slovak counterpart (in the major mode). After two variations on this tune the first melody reappears. Thereafter, the piano introduces a symmetrical jolly csárdas dance in the major key. The eighteenth-century words read: ‘Come in, my rose, come in’. This provides the material for the variations of the final section, which ends with a coda.
from notes by Amnon Shaham © 2004
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