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
