Volume 203: Classic Hungary

Liner Notes

Next stop on our World Tour November is also a stop back to the 19th century. Back to one of the music centers of the world at the time. Budapest. Home of the Danube River and a beautiful opera house.

All of that and more made it a popular tourist stop for that era. And the two composers you will hear from were partly responsible for that popularity as well.

So, get ready to hear an important orchestra in its own right perform music from this landlocked central European country in Volume 203: Classic Hungary.

Video Intro

Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:

You can check out the video version here or on YouTube:

Credits and Copyrights:

See information from the Discogs.com page here

Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, RIAS Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Karl Rucht – Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 2 And No. 14 / Hungarian Dances No. 1 Through No. 6
Label: Paris – Album 12
Format: Vinyl, LP
Released: 1956
Genre and Style: Classical

We will hear 5 of the 8 tunes on this record.

Franz Liszt:
Hungarian Dance 1
Hungarian Dance 3
Hungarian Dance 4
Hungarian Dance 5

Johannes Brahms:
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Here is the Episode Script!

Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 203 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.

Next stop on our World Tour November is also a stop back to the 19th century. Back to one of the music centers of the world at the time. Budapest. Home of the Danube River and a beautiful opera house.

All of that and more made it a popular tourist stop for that era. And the two composers you will hear from were partly responsible for that popularity as well.

So, get ready to hear an important orchestra in its own right perform music from this landlocked central European country in Volume 203: Classic Hungary.

[Music: Hungarian Dance Number 1]

There is the Radio In the American Sector – Berlin Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Karl Rucht with Hungarian Dance number 1 arranged by Johannes Brahms. He is the composer/arranger of all the Hungarian dances you will hear.

Ok…Why this record for this episode?

Because I thought Hungary would be an interesting destination when it comes to music. That part of the world was the heart of where some great composers came from. Although Brahams is German, on this album we hear just four of the 21 dances he arranged based on traditional Hungarian folk songs.

Liszt is a Hungarian composer. We’ll hear his tune last. His rhapsodies are truly beautiful…and lengthy. So we’ll only hear one of those.

There were six of Brahams’ dances included on this record. We will skip the second dance and move on to the third.

[Music: Hungarian Dance Number 3]

Hungarian Dance number 3

Now let me tell you about my dad’s vinyl I am spinning for this episode.

Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, RIAS Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Karl Rucht – Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 2 And No. 14 / Hungarian Dances No. 1 Through No. 6
Label: Paris – Album 12
Format: Vinyl, LP
Released: 1956
Genre and Style: Classical

We will hear 5 of the 8 tunes on this record.

I’ll use most of the liner notes to introduce the composers, but there are two paragraphs remaining.

The Music
During the 19th century, Hungary was a popular country in Central Europe, largely because of touring groups of gypsies who sang, played and danced, Spreading the Vogue for their wild and passionate type of folk music. The Hungarian flavor was much sought after in dance and Salon music, just as South American influences hold the fancy of North Americans today. On the present record we hear examples of two quite different approaches to Hungarian music by two leading 19th century composers.

The orchestra
The RIAS, which stands for radio in the American sector Berlin, Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1946 and gave its first official concert in 1947. The orchestra came to play an important part in the musical Reawakening of post war Berlin and in December 1948 was reorganized under the directorship of Ference Fricsay. As its fame spread, outstanding artists from all parts of the world came to Berlin for the first time since the war, to perform with it. The RIAS symphony orchestra established for itself a high standard of performance and progressive program, and now ranks as one of the leading orchestras of present-day Germany.

Let’s see what prices this record is being sold at on discogs.com.

$8.70 High
$0.65 Low

$3.89 Average
$3.85 Median

Last sold on Aug 10, 2024 for three pounds…or $3.90 US.

My dad’s record is in poor condition. Lot’s of crackling with a couple of outright skips that I just let play through.

The surface is not clean at all. Lots of little marks that look like scratches, but aren’t really deep. This record also has a substance on it that wouldn’t come off easily.

The cover is in poor condition. You can tell the dark blue color of the front has faded over the years. There is a small tear along the bottom edge of the spine. There are NO markings or address labels on this cover.

So I’ll value my dad’s vinyl at a buck.

Next up…number four.

[Music: Hungarian Dance Number 4]

Hungarian Dance 4

Let’s see what the back cover has to say about the composers.

Franz Liszt (1811 to 1886), himself Hungarian by birth and temperament, became the most illustrious concert pianist of all time. although he did not first gain fame as a child prodigy, he did make a concert tour as early as age 11, and in his youth studied with Czerny, author of the famous keyboard exercises, and Salieri, an old rival of Mozart. in Paris, Liszt met the violinist Paganini, whose magical skill led many to believe him in league with Satan. Liszt resolved to become the Paganini of the piano, and retired for several years of fearfully hard practice and self-discipline. when he emerged, his dexterity and power knew no limits, and he displayed them with a glamorous stage personality which hypnotized audiences. Liszt created the idea of the star virtuoso pianist, as opposed to that of an ensemble musician whose personality is secondary to the music. Although he was interested in everything, and helped young composers, Liszt showed a great deal more enthusiasm than taste, often humoring his admirers with empty, trashy trick pieces which made the most of his technique at the keyboard.

Johann Brahms (1833 to 1897), though also a fine pianist, was little interested in the kind of technical exhibitionism on which list built his career. Whereas Liszt was the first individual musician to make a fortune on the concert stage, Brahms was the first to make one through the sale of published music. his four volumes of Hungarian dances started him along the road to a great reputation. He took care to put his name down as only the arranger of these pieces, since most of the melodies were Hungarian folk tunes, even so, certain critics accused him of capitalizing on borrowed material, and something of a commotion followed.

In an era without radio or phonograph, music was strictly a do-it-yourself commodity, and in these Hungarian dances Brahms wrote duets for piano, four hands, designed to appeal to musical amateurs for their own entertainment at home. Thus, his pieces are not cast in the more elaborate, extended forms used by Liszt, whose aim was to show off publicly the mastery of the professional keyboard specialist.

So let’s play the fifth dance of the six that are included on this disk.

[Music: Hungarian Dance Number 5]

Hungarian Dance 5

Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with these dances being among the first music ever recorded.

The earliest known recording of any movement of Hungarian Dances was a condensed piano-based rendition of Hungarian Dance No. 1, from 1889, played by Brahms himself, and was known to have been recorded by Theo Wangemann, an assistant to Thomas Edison. The following dialogue can be heard in the recording itself, before the music starts:

Theo Wangemann: “Dezember 1889.”
Johannes Brahms: “Im Haus von Herrn Doktor Fellinger bei Herrn Doktor Brahms, Johannes Brahms.” (English: “In the house of Dr. Fellinger with Dr. Brahms, Johannes Brahms.”)

Here are just a few moments of that recording.

[old recording]

Joseph Joachim, a close friend of Brahms, in collaboration with an unnamed accompanying pianist, recorded their own renditions of Hungarian Dances Nos. 1 and 2.

Leopold Stokowski’s very first recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra were devoted to Hungarian Dances Nos. 5 and 6. They were recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey in 1917.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

This was some beautiful music. What you’ve heard up until now have all been spry traditional folk music of the country. Something to dance to, hence the names.

What you’ll hear to close the show is a lengthy and even more beautiful rhapsody. I think you’ll recognize the melody on this one.

I’m pretty sure I remember this album cover from back when I was living at home. Something distinctive about the dark blue treatment of a person walking barefoot down a beach with barely noticeable waves along the edges. The white and yellow lettering offers a distinct contrast against that dark background.

But I’m not sure if I ever remember actually hearing it being played on the living room stereo.

I’m sure the music and the time it represents would have been a blast to experience first hand in the late 19th century in that bustling European city.

OK…time to sit back for a ten minute rhapsody from Franz.

[Music: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2]

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 composed by Franz Liszt.

And there you have selections from an album showing off two distinct musical styles from 19th Century Budapest.

And we have one more layover before we finish up World Tour November.

So thanks for tuning into Volume 203: Classic Hungary

however you did. If you want more information about this SHOW, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.

I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops

FOR Volume 204: Riviera Paradise

Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.