Cantare! - was the instruction Verdi often gave orchestral players. A member of the cello section took this to heart all his life. His name was Arturo Toscanini who, as a conductor, always strived to make orchestral players 'sing'. and this is what many excellent instrumental musicians do, whenever they play an original work for the instrument or a transcription. This program by the baritone of the string family also proves that one cannot get tired of instrumental singing.

On this release Hungaroton recorded the Hungarian poet, prose-writer and literary translator, Dezso Kosztolanyi’s most popular novels in Hungarian. Kosztolanyi was born in Szabadka (Subotica) in 1885, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but which now lies in northern Serbia. The city serves as a model for the fictional town of Sarszeg, in which he set his novella Skylark as well as The Golden Kite. Kosztolanyi studied at the University of Budapest, where he met the poets Mihaly Babits and Gyula Juhasz, and then for a short time in Vienna before quitting and becoming a journalist – a profession he stayed with for the rest of his life. In 1908, he replaces the poet Endre Ady, who had left for Paris, as a reporter for a Budapest daily. In 1910, his first volume of poems The Complaints of a Poor Little Child brought nationwide success and marked the beginning of a prolific period in which he published a book nearly every year. In 1936, he died from cancer of the palate. The literary journal Nyugat (Hungarian for "West"), which played an invaluable role in the revitalization of Hungarian literature, was founded in 1908 and Kosztolanyi was an early contributor, part of what is often called the "first Nyugat generation", publishing mainly in poetry. Starting in the 1920s he wrote novels, short stories, and short prose works, including Nero, the Bloody Poet (to the German edition of which Thomas Mann wrote the introduction), Skylark, The Golden Kite and Anna edes. In 1924 he published a volume of verse harkening back to his early work, entitled The Complaints of the Sad Man. Kosztolanyi also produced literary translations in Hungarian, such as (from English, at least) Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", "The Winter's Tale", Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", Thornton Wilder's "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", Lord Alfred Douglas' memoirs on Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling's "If—". He was the first authentic translator of Rilke's poetry, and he worked a Hungarian masterpiece after Paul Valery's "Cimetiere Marin".

Jeno Rejto (1905-1943) was a journalist, prolific author of cabaret skits, and the steadfast practitioner of comic thrillers with unforgettable characters and one-liners that together have become part and parcel of Hungarian literary folklore. Delightfully grotesque parodies of the detective novels that had their heyday at the time, Rejto wrote most of his books in the 1930s under the pen-name of P Howard. The Blonde Hurricane is one of the best of the lot. A combination of thriller and love story, it centres around the race to find a priceless family jewel concealed in a statuette of Buddha that an international band of crooks are after - and so is Miss Evelyn Weston, the Blonde Hurricane, and without her knowledge, Eddy Rancing, who is in love with her, plus a host of others. Everyone is being pursued as well as pursuing everyone else, from England to the African desert and back. Meanwhile, the humour comes pouring out of Rejto's pen as fast and furious as it did from his famous contemporary R G. Wodehouse.

On the sixth album of Gergely Ittzes's seven release survey of flute sonatas we examine 20th century musical trends from two points of view. One aspect is from the center of Europe, the Czech lands, the other is a faraway point, America. The composers of both countries unite the compositional trends of the century in special ways although they all honor the traditions and write tonal, melodic music. It is difficult to explain why, after the French and German repertoire, it was in the Czech lands where significant flute sonatas were composed. What is more, the Czech school of flute playing could not be considered definitive in the 20th century. These works were dedicated to French flautists; Rene� Leroy, George Laurent and Jean-Pierre Rampal were the dedicatees. The geographical and cultural position of Bohemia facilitated the embrace of both French and German influence, uniting them with a distinctively Slavic character. Perhaps this was why, comparably to Russian music, Czech compositions, works by Dvorak, Smetana and Janacek, joined Western European mainstream music the soonest. This central location held an advantage for Czech music also in the 20th century. The influences of all the '-isms' were easily absorbed but the voices of Stravinsky and of Slav folk music were also present. In any case, it is a fact that none of the three sonatas on this album could have been omitted from this selection.

The seventh, closing volume of Gergely Ittzes's flute sonata project places the middle of the twentieth century at it's center. The sonatas on the recordings in this series have so far been grouped according to their stylistic or national characteristics. The last album is somewhat broader in scope and offers a colorful account of the Western-European musical trends arising in the mid-20th century. Five works in different styles have been recorded from four countries of Western Europe. Briefly, it contains a late-romantic English, a post-impressionist and an expressionist French, an early modern Dutch, and a neo-classical German piece. Flutist Gergely Ittzes graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music in 1993 and won scholarships to further his studies at the European Mozart Academy in Prague and the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity in Canada. Ittzes has been teaching at the Szechenyi Istvan University in Gyor since 1996. He has won several prizes and awards (among them the Grand Prix of the Aleksander Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities and the Liszt Prize in 2001) and is a founding member of UMZE Chamber Ensemble.

“O Mozart! Immortal Mozart! What countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!” wrote Schubert in his diary a few months before he started composing his Symphony No. 5. There is a distinctly Mozartian aura to be felt in this piece although the romantic harmonies herald the beginning of a new era: the Concert for Violin and Orchestra, the Rondo and the Polonaise all display the characteristic traits of budding Romanticism. Founded in 1981, Capella Savaria has earned its fame as the first period-instrument chamber orchestra in Hungary. Zsolt Kallo, violinist, acts as the concertmaster, soloist, and artistic director of Capella Savaria.

The piano-ballade is Chopin's invention, and, at the same time, the most individual and poetic genre of romantic piano literature, the purest manifestation of the romantic aesthetic. The four Ballades, conceived at the peak of his compositional career, are telling their tales in quite unique formal designs, all different from one another. Chopin's free improvisations, (improvisations: "impromptu") were seemingly "piano pieces" without genre; individual pieces for performance, longer than the nocturnes but shorter than the ballades or scherzos. "His compositions were all but pale shadows of his improvisations,' wrote Georges Sand. The highly-regarded Hungarian-born pianist G�bor Farkas has, in the decade since winning the International Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar alongside the coveted Audience Prize in the same competition in 2009, come to be recognized internationally as a wholly exceptional artist.

Pancreas diary is P�ter Esterh�zy's (1950 - 2016) very last book, a "logbook" about his disease from the moment he gets the diagnosis. P�ter Esterh�zy (14 April 1950 - 14 July 2016) was a Hungarian writer. He was one of the best-known Hungarian and Central European writers of his era. He has been called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature," his books being considered to be significant contributions to postwar literature. The book is read here in Hungarian by Hungarian actor, director, and television host Robert Alfoldi.

Entitled Vienna Evenings, this recording contains music linked to the imperial city and the piano, and to the enviable bourgeois musical culture of these time periods. The album features Schubert's piano pieces, the waltzes of Liszt and Schubert, and the waltzes of Johann Strauss re-imagined for the piano. G�bor Farkas received his MA and doctorate at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Zolt�n Kocsis was his master-teacher. After the academy he studied at the International Piano Academy, Lake Como, Italy, with William Grant Nabor�. In 2015 he won the Grand Prix of the competition announced by the New York Concert Artist & Associates, as a result of which he could debut in Carnegie Hall in 2016.

MOZART: Divertimentos Nos. 10 and 11

1985 3 X CD archive recordings of Falstaff; Antonio Salieri's operatic version of Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, conducted by Tamas Pal. Performers include: Jozsef Gregor, Eva Panczel, Maria Templeni & more. Founded in 1951 Hungaroton was the only record label & music publisher in Hungary for 40+ years.

GUITAR ENCORES

HANDEL: Cantatas (HWV 82, 142 and 150)

MONTEVERDI: Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda / Madrig

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2