★★★★
Leo Weiner was the lost soul of Hungarian music. A professor at the Franz Liszt Academy from 1908, alongside Bartok and Kodaly, he shared his colleagues’ fascination with folk music but not their modernism. Weiner’s world belonged to Brahms and Liszt, his orchestration to the 1890s.
His first violin concerto is a delight — Bruch without the big tune but with an entwinement of soloist and orchestra and much letting down of hair in the gypsy dances. This is thought to be its first complete performance and none of its 25 minutes outstays its welcome. Julia Pusker is the unflashy soloist; Valeria Csanyi conducts the MAV orchestra of Budapest. It’s made for enjoyment.
Two further pieces – Variations on a Hungarian Folksong and Divertimento #3 — date from 1949-50, when Stalinist commissars encouraged composers to write music “for the people”. Weiner, with a library full of indigenous melodies, stayed on the right side of the oppressive regime. He was not out to make a point, one way or other, and his music was never less than pleasant. At its least sophisticated, it resembles the tunes played by gypsy bands in Budapest tourist restaurants, sultry and seductive.
Georg Solti, his star pre-War pupil, spoke of him with unalloyed affection. The last recording of Solti’s life contained a tributary set of Weiner variations. Naxos have done well to retrieve these scores.
