Dohnányi: Ruralia Hungarica for Cello and Piano, Op. 32d - download (MP3 & FLAC)

This anthology of Hungarian music for cello and piano ranges widely from Liszt’s haunting The Nonnenwerth Cloisters and two salon pieces by the great 19th century cello virtuoso Popper, to composers of the 20th century. Bartók’s First Rhapsody is an original folk-song arrangement intended to popularise the composer’s music as part of a lighter genre. Dohnányi’s Sonata in B flat, Op. 8, for cello and piano, is a formidable work in four movements written in the tradition of the great Romantic sonata. Rósza’s Toccata capricciosa, a fantasy on Hungarian themes, is a virtuosic tour-de-force for solo cello.

"Erno Dohnanyi was another of those 20th-century throwbacks to the Romantic Age who continued to produce lush, melodic opuses long after they had gone out of style. But they're coming back in vogue, so maybe we'll see a Dohnanyi comeback. The major work represented here is his Konzertstuck for Cello and Orchestra, a pleasant, songful, rhapsodic piece that lingers long enough for momentary enjoyment and then recedes into oblivion. It's about 30 minutes of relaxing escapism. It is followed by a more energetic piece, the Sonata for Cello and Piano, again about a half hour's duration but divided into four contrasting moods, the finale a set of attractive variations. The program concludes with a short tone picture called 'Ruralia Hungarica,' the title of which is pretty much self explanatory.

"The sound Naxos provides is typical of the label: Warm, sweet, and ultra-smooth. ...as usual, the disc represents good value and good exploration."

- Sensible Sound, April-May, 2000