The present release features a selection of the most beautiful Hungarian folk tales told in Hungarian. These seven favorites were selected from the 77 Hungarian folk songs of Gyula Illyes. Hungarian actors Sandor Lukacz Kossuth and Kacor King read these tales. Gyula Illyes, Hungarian poet and novelist, was known as a writer of the people. He aimed to show a connection between his art and the common people of Hungary, and was propelled by a strong sociological interest and left wing conviction to show the disadvantageous conditions of his native land. His writing down of Hungarian folk tales was led by these convictions. Sandor Lucacz graduated from the College of Theater and Film in Hungary. Since the 1970s he has acted in several critically-acclaimed Hungarian films, including Istvan Szabo's 1981 Oscar-winning film Mephisto.

THE ISLE OF THE DEAD - SYMPHON

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, considered one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s. "Usually classified among the best examples of the novella," The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia and his sufferings and death from a terminal illness. In 1984, philosopher Merold Westphal said that the story depicts "death as an enemy which leads us to deceive ourselves, robs us of the meaning of life, and puts us in solitary confinement." In 1997, psychologist Mark Freeman wrote: "Tolstoy's book is about many things: the tyranny of bourgeois niceties, the terrible weak spots of the human heart, the primacy and elision of death. But more than anything, I would offer, it is about the consequences of living without meaning, that is, without a true and abiding connection to one's life..." This audiobook is read by award-winning Hungarian actor, director, artist, and professor Jordan Tamas.

Hungarian writer and teacher Miklos Radnoti was the son of a textile vendor and was born in Budapest. He followed in his father's footsteps in the textile business until 1930, when he decided to pursue studying philosophy, Hungarian and French language at the University of Szeged. He wrote prolifically in the genres of short stories and poetry until his internment in a Jewish labor camp in the early 1940s. He converted, with his wife, to Roman Catholicism and was subsequently deported to Serbia. He died on the forced march from Bor to Szentkiralyszabadja, where he wrote his last poem in October 1944. Reading these "Long Short Stories" in Hungarian is actor Laszlo Gaffi. He is well known for his roles as King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the film production of Wagner, and as Frederic Chopin in the Hungarian TV film Liszt Ferenc, about the life of Franz Liszt.

Musical Memories

Hungarian writer Antal Szerb (1901-1945) is recognized as one of the major Hungarian literary personalities of the twentieth century. His first novel was released when he was just 32. Shortly thereafter he was made a Professor of Literature at the University of Szeged, and was twice awarded the Baumgarten Prize. This release features several of his short stories, read in Hungarian. “His love affair with literature was passionate, intense, and serious, but for all that it was never humorless, and it never lost the flirtatious and giddy quality of an adolescent crush. Reading Szerb on literature – reading Szerb at all – is like watching a lover dote on the object of his affections... It is the disparity between literary perfection and drab actuality that motivates us, in Szerb’s view, to improve our world, to question its assumptions and tear at its established fabrics.” (Becca Rothfield, The New Republic) “The Hungarian master… left a scholarly body of criticism as well as fiction, including his masterpiece, Journey By Moonlight (1937) and some glorious stories gathered here.” (Eileen Battersby, Irish Times)

Krúdy: Madame Louise délutánjai - Utolsó szivar az Arabs Szü

Dickens: A Christmas Carol

KODALY: Choral Works, Vol. 7: Children's, Youth, and Female

Illyes: A kis gömböc - Az égigéro fa a 77 magyar népmesébol

Karinthy: A cirkusz - Lógok a szeren - Üzenet a palackban és

KATANG: Adorjan tortaja

Átutazó

Jézus, az ember fia

This release features the most famous work by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “The Little Prince.” This classic is a children’s book, but also has an important message for adults. It is one of the most read books in the world, and has been translated into more than 250 languages and dialects. This recording is performed by Hungarian actor and poet, Andras Balint.