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Mariusz Smolij Photo: Evin Thayer Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV Photos: Zsuzsanna Rózsa

EugeneZADORDanceSymphonyVariations on aHungarianFolksongFestival Overture

Budapest SymphonyOrchestra MÁVMariusz Smolij

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Mariusz SmolijThe conductor Mariusz Smolij has won great acclaim from the international press, and has led over one hundred andten orchestras on four continents, appearing in some of the most prestigious concert halls of the world. In North America,among many others, he has collaborated with the Houston Symphony (Resident Conductor 2000–2003), New JerseySymphony, Orchestra of Chicago Lyric Opera, Rochester Philharmonic NY, Indianapolis Symphony, Symphony NovaScotia and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He also enjoys a notable reputation performing with importantorchestras of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Israel, Holland, Canada, South Africa, China, Serbia, Bulgaria,Hungary, the Czech Republic and his native Poland. He has directed concerts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center inNew York, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Tonhalle, Zurich, the Salle Gaveau, Paris, the Concertgebouw,Amsterdam, the National Centre for the Arts, Beijing, and the Warsaw National Philharmonic Concert Hall. He is thefounding member of the Penderecki String Quartet, former artistic director of the Lutosławski Philharmonic Orchestra,Wrocław, and the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, Poland, and currently serves as Music Director of theAcadiana Symphony in Louisiana and Riverside Symphonia in New Jersey. His recordings for Naxos include releasesof works by Andrzej Panufnik, Tadeusz Szeligowski, Miklós Rózsa, Eugene Zádor and Ernst Bloch. In 2015, his recordingof music by Polish female composer Grażyna Bacewicz won the Fryderyk Award, the Polish equivalent of theGRAMMY®. www.mariuszsmolij.com

Budapest Symphony Orchestra (MÁV)The Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV (MÁV Szimfonikus Zenekar) was founded in 1945 by the Hungarian StateRailways. Since then, it has developed a wide-ranging repertoire from music of the baroque era to works by contemporarycomposers, and is currently ranked among the best professional ensembles in Hungary. The orchestra has performedthroughout Europe as well as in Cyprus, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador,Peru and Oman. Performances have taken place at many of the most important and respected concert halls, such as theMusikvereinssaal in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Shanghai Oriental ArtCentre. The MÁV Symphony Orchestra was the only Hungarian orchestra to participate in Tokyoʼs legendary ThreeTenors Production in 1999. The orchestraʼs recordings are available everywhere in the world. Since 2012 Péter Csabahas been the orchestraʼs Artistic Director and Chief Conductor, and since 2014 Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro has been theorchestraʼs Honorary Guest Conductor.

Eugene Zádor (1894–1977)Dance Symphony • Variations on a Hungarian Folksong • Festival Overture

Eugene Zádor spent a lifetime devoted to composing music– everything from operas and ballets to symphonies andconcertos. After the rise of Nazi Germany cut short asuccessful career in Europe, he made a living for himself inAmerica by composing and orchestrating film scores –continuing his outpouring of concert works on his own time.Music was second nature to him. As he once said, “I like towrite con amore. Music is a love affair with me. I composewhen I walk, eat, and sometimes even when I sleep.”

Born in the village of Bátaszék, Hungary, on 5th Novem-ber 1894, Zádor first fell under the spell of music when heheard the sound of a piano emanating from a neighbourʼshouse. He stopped to listen for so long in the freezingweather he contracted pneumonia. His mother promisedhim anything if only he would recover, so he asked for (andreceived) a piano. He was only six years old.

In 1911, after initial study in piano and composition atthe conservatory in Pecs, Zádor entered the ViennaConservatory. The following year he moved to the LeipzigConservatory, where his teachers included Max Reger.After earning a doctorate in musicology from the Universityof Münster in 1921, he settled in Vienna and began to teachcomposition at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium (in thesame room where he had been a student ten years before).He wrote his first symphony, the Romantic, in 1922. Thefirst of his twelve operas, Diana, a grand-Guignol pieceabout a medieval knight, had its première at the BudapestRoyal Opera House in 1923.

During the 1920s and 1930s Zádor lived a productivelife as a teacher and composer in Vienna. He wasprosperous and well-connected, numbering among hisfriends Béla Bartók, who came to visit Zádor whenever hewas in the city. In addition to more operas, Zádor composedsuch notable works as Rhapsodie für grosses Orchester(1930), Kammerkonzert (1931), Sinfonia Technica (1932),Rondo for Orchestra (1933) and Hungarian Caprice (1935)– all of which added to his growing stature. He wasawarded the Hungarian National Prize in 1934 for his PianoQuintet, and made an honorary professor at the RoyalAcademy in Budapest the following year.

Zádor left Vienna on 12th March 1938 – the day of theAnschluss – fleeing to Budapest. A job offer from the NewYork College of Music enabled him to obtain a visa, and inMarch 1939 he embarked for America. He lived in NewYork for about a year, working as an orchestrator for theFord Sunday Evening Hour on radio. His opera ChristopherColumbus, presented in concert form at Radio City MusicHall in New York and broadcast nationally, was a hugesuccess. When he received an offer from M-G-M tocompose music for films, he accepted it and moved to LosAngeles.

As was typical of the day, Zádor composed (or at leastcontributed to) numerous scores in the early 1940s forwhich he received no screen credit. He also began whatwould become a career-long stint as the exclusiveorchestrator for three-time Oscar winner Miklós Rózsa –who, like his fellow Hungarian, enjoyed success both in thecinema and in the concert hall.

Shortly after Zádor retired from orchestrating, hereceived word that Zubin Mehta had selected A FestivalOverture for the opening week of the new Los AngelesMusic Center – home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.Mehta conducted the première of the work there on 10thDecember 1964. As befits the occasion, the overture isfilled with bravura; as befits a composition by EugeneZádor, it is constructed with rigorous musical logic. It openswith two short fanfares – the first is warm and noble (hornsand trumpets punctuated by sonorous polychords intrombones and strings); the second is more festive andbrilliant (glittering triplets in brass and woodwinds). Zádorrepeats these before introducing his principal idea: amartial theme characterized by dotted rhythms (includinga prominent Scottish snap), perfect fifths (used bothmelodically and harmonically) and a buzzing, mordent-likefigure. The composer exploits these characteristicsextensively in a lengthy development which at one point isinterrupted by a return of the fanfares. Two-thirds of the waythrough the piece, the celebratory mood takes an abruptturn. Low strings announce a solemn fugal motif – againfeaturing a prominent fifth – that builds to a great climax

into which elements of the first theme (dotted rhythms, themordent figure) intrude until they overtake the musicalargument. The fanfares return (albeit in reverse order) tobring the work to a brilliant (dare one say cinematic?)conclusion.

Although Zádor left Hungary when he was still in histeens, his music remained firmly rooted in his native soil.“You can discern the Hungarian flavour in practically everywork of mine”, he said in a 1974 interview. “Iʼm grateful thatI was born in Hungary and have this Hungarian music inmy blood, in my system, because if I want to advance in mystyle, I donʼt have to go in the direction of atonal music. Ialways say, ʻIʼm sorry, gentlemen, but what I write isHungarian folklore (or folklore imitations) so I will be tonalalways. You have to excuse me.” Certainly no excuse isneeded for his Variations on a Hungarian Folksong, writtenin 1919 and premiered in Vienna on 7th February 1927.The theme – a simple D-major tune with three phrases, ofwhich the last is longer than the first two – is introduced bya quartet of low woodwinds (two clarinets and twobassoons). The ten movements which follow are not onlyvariations on the tune but also diverse mood picturesinspired by it. Zádor gave each a revealing subtitle(“Bagatelle”, “Burleske”, Scherzo”, “Serenade” and soforth). This allowed him to make great use of orchestralcolour, approaching in some variations a nearly Straussianopulence. (Among Zádorʼs most prized possessions weretwo pages from the original manuscript of Die Liebe derDanae given to him by Strauss.)

The most “Hungarian” of the variations is the eighth,“Alla zingaresca – quasi Csárdás”, in which Zádor cleverlymimics the sound of the native cimbalom with lower strings,piano and clarinets. The final variation begins with a fugaldevelopment of the theme, starting on bassoons andclarinets as though reflecting back on the beginning of thework. The theme is soon picked up by oboes, flutes andviolins, and the piece concludes with an assertive, full-orchestra statement.

Ten years later, after Zádor had been living, teachingand creating in Vienna for sixteen years, the Hungarianflavour in his music had receded and the Vienneseinfluence was at its peak. Hans Knappertsbusch conductedthe première of Zádorʼs third symphony, the Tanz-

Symphonie, on 8th February 1937. Bearing absolutely notrace of the dark, angst-ridden tenor of the times, the workis a sunny homage to the composerʼs adopted home. Thefirst movement develops two equally festive themes in afrothy Viennese confection. The first features a fanfare-likemotif that suggests the ebullience of Korngold; the second– opening with a yearning, rising seventh – surges forwardwith the fervour of Strauss.

The contrast of themes in the second movement isgreater. The first idea, introduced by clarinet againstdivided violins, suggests a Hungarian folksong. Although itcould conceivably indicate a longing for the composerʼshomeland, Zádor dresses it in lush Viennese colours, withparticularly expressive writing for horns. The second ideais more playful, its compound metre flirting with that mostViennese of dances – a waltz. When the folksong-like motifreturns to close the movement, the waltz idea continues inthe three flutes, as though it will not be forgotten in themidst of the more sombre theme in lower strings.

The third movement is a traditional scherzo – butwithout a trio. The sprightly woodwind idea heard at theoutset is present throughout, subjected briefly tocontrapuntal development and played in counterpoint tomore lyrical lines (usually in lower strings or horns). In thefinal movement, which Zádor described as a rondo,frequent hemiolas (already employed in the scherzo)provide rhythmic flavour. It opens with rich, polychordalstrings and a clarinet solo (harkening back to the secondmovement), before horns announce the rondo theme.Whenever the motif returns it is always in brass (horns,trumpets, trombones). At the concluding fortississimoclimax, the Korngoldian theme of the opening movementreturns to put a final, cyclical seal on this Viennesevalentine.

Zádor once said, “The technique of the composer is likedigesting food. Compositional technique is to me asimportant as the knowledge of the alphabet to the writer.Every great composer had great technical knowledge.” Asdemonstrated by this ongoing Naxos series of thecomposerʼs works, Zádorʼs music was imbued not only withtechnique but also with heart. Con amore indeed.

Frank K. DeWald

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