Sympathetic and Inventive Music by Ferenc Farkas - heard by PAUL SARCICH 'The Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra performs with obvious care and commitment ...'

I first met the music of Ferenc Farkas when reviewing his Complete Wind Quintets (TOCC 0019) [Great Panache — The complete wind quintets of Ferenc Farkas, 4 October 2007] and was immediately impressed by his invention and craftsmanship. Both are well displayed on this disc, which despite its subtitle of Music for Oboe and Strings has more to offer than that.

Farkas solved the problem of finding his own voice as a Hungarian composer living in the shadow of Bartók and Kodály by largely turning to neo-classicism — from his studies with Respighi he learned refinement and craft, which he allied to a concern for the patchy development of Hungarian music in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and looked backward in order to go forward.

Both influences are evident in the opening suite of Old Hungarian Dances for oboe and strings, where Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances invite an immediate comparison...

FERENC FARKAS

TOCCATA CLASSICS

HUNGARY

CHAMBER MUSIC

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

OBOE MUSIC