In the 1930s Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly breathed new life into a form that had been dormant in Europe since the Renaissance, polyphonic choral music. Janos Ferencsik directs the Hungarian Radio and Television Choirs in 6 of Kodaly's best, all sung a cappella in Hungarian: "Hymn of Zrinyl," "Jesus and the Traders," "The Aged," "Norwegian girls" (written in 1940 and said to be in sympathy with Norway, just overrun by Hitler's Reich), "Too Late" and "Ode to Liszt." This is striking, dramatic, impressionistic, historic music, beautifully performed by one of Europe's great mixed choruses. |
