Budapest So Mav/Smolij - Eugene Zador: The Plains of Hungary, Fantasia Hungarica, Variations on a Merry Theme Rhapsodies

In the last two decades of his career Eugene Zador, whose music fused Classicism with Romanticism to universal acclaim, wrote a series of works that reflected his Hungarian roots. Subtly flavoured by folklore without any direct quotations, Zador's facility for melody, harmony and colour is exemplified in the Rhapsody for Orchestra, while his gift for lyricism and pithy concision is to the fore in the Fantasia Hungarica for double bass and orchestra. The Rhapsody for Cimbalom and Orchestra reveals his ceaselessly inventive imagination in music that is orchestrated with the deftest touch.