This is a well-established team: Zsolt Kalló has been concertmaster of Capella Savaria, the first period instrument ensemble in Hungary, since 1999 and Nicholas McGegan has been working with them for 30 years. It shows in their easy rapport and precision ofensemble. String intonation in the band is not pristine, but there are a lot of good things here.
Read MoreMARGUERITE’S “KING OF THULE” song in Gounod’s Faust is usually a throwaway – a stepsister preface to the familiar and beloved jewel aria. It’s typical of Sylvia Sass’s artistry that in this collection that segment is a highlight, one of many moments to which this unique singer gives a personal touch and unveils new dimensions to the music and the character singing it.
Read MoreThis is heady stuff. With genuine understanding and astonishing confidence, Lajkó pulls off what surely will be considered a career-defining achievement. Hungaroton’s presentation is at one with the performance. The engineers have encompassed Lajkó’s infinitely varied yet always natural piano sound in beautiful detail.
Read MoreMartin Cullingford’s pick of the finest recordings from this month’s reviews: My second new discovery this month, and for this I can be forgiven: a remarkable transcription of Liszt’s mighty Faust Symphony, played with astonishing confidence and skill by István Lajkó.
Read MoreHungarian pianist Annie Fischer (1914–1995) was born in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music there with Ernő Dohnányi. In 1933 she won the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in her native city and in the many decades that followed she enjoyed a prolific career, playing mainly in Europe and Australia.
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