Czardas Fantasy

The idea for this programme occurred to Ferenc Vizi when working on Liszt’s Rhapsodies. Liszt wrote in several places in the scores of the Rhapsodies ‘quasi zimbalon’, play like a cimbalom. This and the numerous sections inspired by traditional Hungarian music gave Ferenc Vizi the idea of arranging some of the Rhapsodies for piano, cimbalom and a Hungarian traditional music ensemble. The album includes Rhapsodies 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 - the Hungarian Fantasy. Ferenc Vizi’s article in the album booklet gives a fuller explanation and quotes Liszt who wrote extensively about gypsy music and his gypsy origins. There is also a liner note in English and French by the distinguished British musicologist, Richard Langham Smith, as well as an article by Ágoston Bartha on the traditional music and instruments included in the album. The recording was made live at a concert in the Philharmonic Hall of Targu-Mures in Transyvanian Romania where both Ferenc Vizi and József Csurkulya junior studied together. The sound balance is again by Jiri Heger.