Photo: public domain
Galánta is a small town on the Danube between Bratislava and Budapest that had a famous gypsy band, and as a youngster, Zoltán Kodály became one of its keenest fans.
The family moved on of course, but nearly four decades later, the Budapest Philharmonic Society commissioned the composer to write a work to celebrate the town’s 80th anniversary. Kodály took to his task with great enthusiasm and affectionate memories, and used the passionate tradition of the folk-like Verbunkos music that had been at the heart of the gypsy-band music of his boyhood.
In 18th- and 19th-century Hungary, the verbunkos was a dance-show put on by the army’s recruiting sergeant and his hussars for the potential enlistees, the message being that the soldier’s life is endless fun.
Following the traditional form of the verbunkos, in the Dances of Galánta, there's a slow beginning section followed by a series of increasingly frenetic fast dances.
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Town Hall, 15 April 2021
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Adrian Hollay
