Marc Coppey, Matan Porat & Barnabás Kelemen - Zoltán Kodály: Chamber Music for Cello (2022) [Official Digital Download]

The common question as to who was the most important Hungarian composer of the twentieth century – Béla Bartók or Zoltán Kodály – would have been vehemently rejected by the two like-minded friends. On the one hand, they shared many ideas and goals, such as researching Hungarian folk music, which they recorded in the countryside before and after the First World War using a wax cylinder phonograph. Bartók and Kodály made the original music of the peasant societies, which has nothing to do with the idea of Csárdás fire and Puszta romanticism, the basis of their own idioms, which they further developed in very personal ways. On the other hand, the careers of the two composers progressed in entirely different ways. While Bartók embraced international modernism and went into American exile at the height of fascist rule in Hungary, Kodály remained in his home country even under politically difficult circumstances, devoting himself unswervingly to his great task: integrating music into the school curriculum in order to make it the basis of national consciousness and social behaviour.

Track List:
1. Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8: I. Allegro maestoso ma Appassionato (8:31)
2. Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8: II. Adagio (10:45)
3. Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8: III. Allegro molto Vivace (11:50)
4. Cello Sonata, Op. 4: I. Fantasia (8:17)
5. Cello Sonata, Op. 4: II. Allegro con Spirito (9:42)
6. Sonatina for Cello & Piano (8:37)
7. Duo for Violin & Cello, Op. 7: I. Allegro serioso, non Troppo (7:46)
8. Duo for Violin & Cello, Op. 7: II. Adagio - Andante (7:37)
9. Duo for Violin & Cello, Op. 7: III. Maestoso e largamente, ma non troppo lento - Presto (7:58)