The two main concepts of art are beauty and lucidity.
Leó Weiner

Leó Weiner (1885-1960) was an outstanding composer and music teacher active in the first half of the 20th century. Although he was a contemporary of Bartók and Kodály, his artistic attitude and style were not influenced by them. He relied on 19th century European music traditions and tonality, and refused to follow the new trends of his century.

Weiner was admitted to the F. Liszt Academy of Music without substantial previous music studies, but did very well owing to his seriousness and thorough study of the scores. János Koessler, his professor of composition, regarded him so high, that upon his recommendation, one year after graduation, Weiner was given a chair by the Academy, which he held for 50 years, doing an excellent job.

The long list of Leó Weiner's students - then friends - includes some of the greatest names in the music world: Géza Anda, Antal Doráti, Péter Frankl, Dénes Koromzay, György Pauk, Ödön Pártos, Miklós Rózsa, György Sebők, Sir Georg Solti, János Starker, Tibor Varga, Sándor Végh...
They kept alive the achievements of his chamber music teaching and passed them on to the new generations of musicians all over the world. Hundreds of instrumental soloists, conductors and orchestral musicians have proved the excellency of Weiner's curriculum and methodology.
The fact that Weiner's works are interpreted by his former students: György Sebők (piano), János Starker (violoncello), Tibor Varga (conductor), and the orchestral heir to his musical legacy: the Budapest Chamber Symphony makes these recordings authentic and of historic value.

The most successful period of Weiner's creative career falls on the first decades of the 20th century. His Serenade (1906) and Carnival (1907) were acclaimed in Hungary and abroad alike. As Antal Molnár, a Hungarian musicologist of the time, put it: “in those days everyone was convinced that Weiner was a genius of the first rank”. His cometlike appearance was due to the early maturity of Weiner's creative powers, his sense of form and proportion, and his ability to blend the fresh sound of the new century with the balancedness of the old one into a homogeneous, unique language.

Sensitive, French-like harmonies gleamed in his compositions, bringing new colour to Hungarian music that followed German patterns at that time. No wonder Weiner was ranked equal to Bartók, and Kodály.


CD 1

This CD - with its great variety of genres - is a selection of Weiner's most personal and characteristic compositions.

Pastorale, phantaisie et fugue is Weiner's last neo-classical - in new terminology: eclectic - work, composed in 1938. Interestingly, it has two versions: one for string orchestra, one for string quartet. Though Weiner worked on them simultaneously, making it op.23 he considered the string orchestra version as first, and registered the other one as String Quartet no.3, op.26.

This is Weiner's most homogeneous and harmonic work, including his Divertimenti. By naming the three movements Pastoral, Fantasy and Fugue his neo-classicism has a predominantly Baroque character. The Pastorale (Allegro amabile) with its flowing 6/8 melodic line reminds us of the Lieds Shubert's Wanderers sing, and the similarity is more striking, because from behind it joyous tone one hears the sound of a tragic future. Its idyll - in 1938, on the verge of WW2 - is a shocking gesture from Weiner, and can be interpreted only as his escape to the soothing self-oblivion of music. The Phantaisie (Poco adagio, quasi andante) is a flowing continuation to the singing melodiousness of the first movement. The composer in some places applies harmonies resembling Debussy, in others the pentatony of Hungarian folk music. The movement demonstrates the strength of Weiner's lyricism, and recalls his voice of youth. Not counting his transcriptions of earlier works, we can hear him using it for the last time as WW2 silenced it forever. The Fugue's brilliant theme, pulsating in quavers, is the only element resembling Weiner's Hungarian style. The latest reasarch has established it is a Hungarian folk tune played on bagpipe, the bouncing notes of the second part reveal its origin. The Fugue with its masterly proportions and sweeping energy is a most appropriate unifying and closing element of the three-pice music structure.

The Romance for cello, harp and string orchestra is one of Weiner's most lyrical compositions. He rewrote it in 1949 in respect for the musical values of the original cello and piano version composed some 30 years earlier. As usually Weiner considered it a separate work and gave it a new number: op.29. The Romance is a shining example of Weiner's lyricism at its best: its melodies developing in circular motion, modal harmonization and pathetic treatment of pentatony are in perfect unity in the original version, but in the new one with the orchestral accompaniment this quality is even more enhanced.

The Concertino for piano and orchestra is his next composition that followed the first version of the Romance, op.14 and is Weiner's first concerto. It was finished in 1923, had its premiére in 1926 - with Ernst von Dohnányi playing the solo part and István Kerner conducting the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra - and became his most popular piece. In the 30s and 40s it went around the world and was interpreted by prominent musicians. As Weiner's most characteristic work, it is still often performed.

In one of his letters he describes the Concertino as follows: “pianistically it is not romantic (in the loud, multi-chord Liszt-Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninov sense of the word) but neo-classic: lined and contoured (resembling Mozart and the early Beethoven)”. It consists of two parts. The first movement - like his Pastorale mentioned above - is marked Allegro amabile and calls for a dolce melody-shaping. The piano and the orchestra converse in a relaxed manner, interrupted by cadence-like sections. The contrasting Vivace is based on a motoric, eighth-motion theme, and builds up to a virtuoso and effective Rondo-Finale in the form so typical of Weiner.

The Carnival for small orchestra - composed in 1907 and second in the row of orchestral works - Weiner later did not withdraw, is his first programme music. In contrast to the historic themes fashionable that time, he pictures an occasional gathering of ordinary people, with its changes in mood and bizarre pettyness. Its subtitle, Humoresque is the best word to describe Weiner's work. One of his enthusiastic contemporaries compared Weiner's subtle humour to that of Mozart - true: Weiner's Carnival full of brilliant ideas, and natural musical charm is not without prominent precedent.


Budapest Chamber Symphony
It is striking to hear music performed with discipline, fidelity to the score and yet full of joie de jeu. Many – including prof. Sándor Végh of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, who was of the same opinion – find the Budapest Chamber Symphony excels in just that. The orchestra was created in 1992 by Judit Réger-Szász with the aim of preserving and carrying on the finest Hungarian tradition in performing chamber music. This tradition is based on the legacy of Leó Weiner (1885–1960) – a composer and colleague of Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály and Zathurecky at the F. Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest – and József Szász, a student of Weiner, founder and first violinist of the famous Weiner String Quartet. The Budapest Chamber Symphony regularly performs as a string orchestra and in various chamber formations as well. Its repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the 20th century. Programming usually combines standard pieces with new or rarely heard works. The BCS, supported and operated by the Weiner-Szász Foundation, attracts business sponsorship from the Samsung (main sponsor), Hungarian Electricity Works, Novacom and Hunviron companies (sponsors). Their list of guest artists includes, among others, such well-known names as Isabelle Faust, Lóránd Fenyves, Péter Frankl, Kim Kashkashian, Cyprien Katsaris, András Keller, Zoltán Kocsis, Alexander Lonquich, György Pauk, Miklós Perényi, Viktor Pikaizen, Katalin Pitti, László Polgár, Zoltán Rácz, Andrea Rost, György Sebôk, János Starker, Tibor Varga, Dénes Várjon, Tamás Vásáry, Sándor Végh... The orchestra works under the direction of an artistic board, whose members are: Mathis Dulack (Netherlands) – principal conductor, Imre Pusker – conductor, Roman Osetchinsky – leader, Judit Réger-Szász – founding president, Mihály Szilágyi – cultural manager.

János Starker, violoncellist (b. 1924 in Hungary) has been working in the USA since 1948. He started as a solo cellist of three orchestras, among them the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the music directorship of Fritz Reiner. His career as soloist started in 1958 when he recorded the Bach Solo Suites for Mercury. From the same year on János Starker has been teaching at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington.

His discography contains more than 150 items. In 1990 jános Starker was given the Grammy-award for his interpretation of the works by the cellist-composer Dávid Popper. He recorded R. Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Bavarian Radio Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, Concertos by Bartók and Dvořák with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Slatkin, Schumann and Hindemith with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russel Davies. On three other records he interpretes sonatas. A new CD with Rudolf Buchbinder came out to celebrate his 70th birthday.

György Sebők, pianist (b. 1922 in Hungary) studied composition with Kodály and chamber music with Weiner at the F. Liszt Academy of Music. From 1949 he taught piano at the Bartók Conservatory of Budapest. In 1950 he won the International Piano Competition in Berlin and received the Liszt-award in Budapest. He moved to Paris in 1957 and continued his career there. As as piano soloist he toured the whole world. His trio with János Starker and Arthur Grumiaux, so famous in the 50s and the 60s, is still legendary. Sebők made his first recording for Erato in 1957 and it was followed by more than forty. From 1962 on he has been teaching music at Indiana University in Bloomington, US. He hold master classes all over the world, established the “Festival der Zukunft” a yearly concerts & lectures event in Ernen, Switzerland. György Sebők was given Hungary’s Cross of Distinction in 1993, his name appeared on the list of prominencies of the USA, in 1995 he was made honorary citizen of Ernen, received the Swiss Pro Cultura-award from the Canton of Wallis Canton in 1995, and the “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” from the French Minister of Education in 1996.

Tibor Varga, violinist and conductor (b.1921 in Hungary) appeared as soloist of a symphony orchestra when he was 10 and made his first recording in 1934 for EMI’s His Masters Voice, then others for Deutsche Grammophon and Columbia. He became a touring artist at the age of 14 giving concerts all over Europe and on other continents. Varga worked with such renowned conductors as Böhm, Fricsay, Furtwängler, Jochum, Markevich. Many contemporary composers wrote pieces for him, Arnold Schoenberg was one of them. In 1949 he was appointed director of the new Detmold Conservatory in Germany. Forty years ago he settled in Sion (Sitten), Switzerland. He established the Tibor Varga International Festival and Summer Academy that achieved wordwide recognition. His Streicherhochschule, in operaton for the 10th year, is attended by students from all over the world.

Melinda Felletár (harp) studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Academy of Music and graduated in 1983. She performed in Austria, Belgium, France and Germany, contributed to seven records and recently made a solo CD. Melinda Felletár is a respected specialist of the French repertoire and by regularly performing the Romance made her name associated with Weiner’s piece. She is teaching harp at the Szeged Faculty of the F. Liszt Academy of Music.


CD 2

The Violin Concerto no.2 is Weiner's last composition, closing his ouvre with the number of op.45. He returned to one of his most important chamber work, the Violin Sonata no.2, op.18 three years before his death. He found the violin part potentially good for turning it into a violin concerto. His Violin Sonata no.2 in F-sharp minor (1918) represents one of Weiner's most sensitive style periods characterized by chromatically coloured melodies, modal and chromatic changes of harmony. The 1st (Allegro) movement evokes Brahms's voice, the 2nd (Presto) sparkles with Mendelssohnian wit, the 3rd (Larghetto) blends the tones of Hungarian and German romanticism. The impromptu-like prelude of the 4th (Rubato) movement first freely recapitulates the themes of the previous movements, then leads onto the Rondo marked Allegro alla Marcia. This energetic movement that calls for great virtuosity further enhances the passionate nature of the dialogue between violin and accompaniment characteristic for the sonata version.


Antal Szalai, violinist (b. 1981 in Hungary). He began playing the violin at the age of five. He graduated in 1994 from the F. Liszt Academy of Music where he studied with Péter Komlós. He was 8 years old, when – under age exemption – he took part in the János Koncz Violin Competition and won it. Three years later he repeated his success. In 1993 he played at the UNESCO Gala-concert for young European talents in Paris, in 1994 he represented Hungary in Sweden at the international concert of young artists. He performed in Austria, Switzerland, France and Romania. Antal Szalai attended the master classes of Tibor Varga in Switzerland, Lóránd Fenyves in Budapest and György Pauk in Austria. He played Bartók’s Violin Concerto no.1 in the presence of Sir Yehudi Menuhin and proved his talent to Isaac Stern as well. In 1997 he won the Leó Weiner Sonata Competition. In 1998 he performed the Mendelssohn and Paganini Concertos with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.

Zsolt Hamar, conductor (b.1968) started playing the piano at the age of 6. He studied composition with Emil Petrovics, conducting with Ervin Lukács and Tamás Gál at the F. Liszt Academy of Music where he graduated in 1995. In the same year he won the 2nd prize and the Public’s Award at Hungarian TV’s International Conductor's Competition. In 1966 he finished 2nd at the Conductor’s Competition in Cadaques, Spain. In 1996 he won the Portuguese Radio’s International Conductor's Competition and conducted in the same programme with Yehudi Menuhin at the Gala Concert of the World Music Day. From 1997 on he is principal conductor of Hungary’s National Philharmonic Orchestra under the music directorship of Zoltán Kocsis. In 1998 he appeared with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester and the Wiener Kammerorcherster, studied the production of Verdi’s Don Carlos with Lorin Maazel at the Salzburg Festival, and conducted the Polish Radio’s Symphony Orhestra in Warsaw.

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“Like good wine”

Taking the public opinion into account, we can say that Leo Weiner as a composer is much less widely known as an educator. Do hundreds of names known all over the world weigh more than his fifty-some pieces? A Jenő Ormándy and a Divertimento? A Miklós Rózsa and a Romance? Or is it not even worth that much? Who shall decide? Posterity of course. Grateful posterity. Or, the ungrateful one, if you please.
The Budapest Chamber Symphony undertook to record - in the very last moment - the chamber symphonic part of Leo Weiner's oeuvre with the help of authentic personalities who have unchallengable authority with respect to the Weinerian traditions, such as János Starker and György Sebok - who live in the USA, or Tibor Varga - who lives in Switzerland.

Three out of the five pieces contained on the two records are issued in this format for the first time. The lyrically articulated Pastorale, Phantasie et Fugue with its Debussy avocations and occasional Hungarian colors, the ironically witty Carnival, which brought world wide fame for its composer in 1907, and Violin Concerto No. 2, which Weiner composed on the theme of an early violin and piano sonata are - to use a modern expression - a world premiere.

The Romance - written for harp, cello and string orchestra - is a real masterpiece sparkling with light, while the Concertino Op. 15. for piano and orchestra - one of its most popular pieces - is resounding with a Mozartean playfulness.

Weiner's style is based upon European musical traditions and although it communicates original ideas in every moment, all it resists the temptations of the age, consciously keeping a distance from that certain "source", from which one cannot return - or rather look back - without some element of change. The last "neoclassical" - we might say if it did not have a pejorative undertone. Leo Weiner, the composer was more than that: a creative musician in the sense of the word encompassing intellectual freedom and complete craftsmanship, as well.

The second studio recording of the Budapest Chamber Symphony [...] is like good wine. One must not consume it too frequently and must pay intense attention to it so that he or she can visualize the sunny late-summer vineyard and feel the smell of the cool wine-scented air of the cellar. And as the mist appears on the side of the glass, we may think of the good old times that have never existed.
Péter Tóth (Café Momus, 1999)

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Masterpieces of “literacy” - Weiner the composer

“As if in a dream, Leo Weiner marvelled at the beautiful landscapes of the world of music. You could almost say that music was to him a wonderful kingdom beyond time and space. For a superficial observer, this was reason enough to call him romantic. (…) However, Weiner didn't desire the paradise of classical music (or more precisely: the classicism of Vienna) in the same way as the early Romantics had, nor did he consider his mirage as a possible way-out, characteristic of the general escapism fashionable round the turn of the century. In a paradox way, he felt he was in the middle of a hermetically closed dream-world which he actually experienced. And this is where his pedagogical career, primarily as a teacher of chamber music, logically connects to his oeuvre as a composer. In effect, Weiner always taught, everywhere, and to him, this mainly meant submerging in the realm of his classical predecessors. The narcotic effect of teaching unsettled his sense of time. Not only regarding the way he lost track of it when teaching, but also in the sense that he was unable to account for larger units of time, in other words, age.

(…) His music is clear and beautiful, playful in the strictest sense of the word, for the forms, tonality and sound formations of his work, the innovative, humourous and symmetrically harmonious combinations created a belated, classical Hungarian style of the 18th -19th century, which had somehow been missing from the history of Hungarian music. What makes his style so much more than a simple gap-fill or anachronistic inclination is the fact that as far as the musical vocabulary of his works is concerned, it could only have been written in the 20th century. At this point, the historian might almost have pronounced the term Neo-classicism, but the classicism of Weiner originates from a totally different basic gesture. He does not evoke the musical phenomena of past ages. He doesn't take out the sonata form, for example, from behind the protective glass of the museum of musical form and transform it to the image of the 20th century. Instead, he regards it as a direct antecedent.”
András Batta

“I always used to group composers in my mind according to the place they belonged to, (…) and in this imaginary line, I always appointed Weiner the Hungarian Mendelssohn. I think his Concertino is the direct continuation of Mendelssohn's work. Listening to it, one felt nostalgia for the beginning of the nineteenth century, for that was a golden age of music, with such composers as Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann. Weiner's works somehow had the same effect on me, a longing for the romanticism and purity characteristic of the 19th century.
Weiner was a phenomenon, he didn't fit into the twentieth century, because he was an idealist, a generous man who loved music above all else.”
Andor Földes (Switzerland)

“They called him the Hungarian Bizet. The comparison wasn't a bad one, but to make it more precise, we should imagine a Bizet who hadn't written Carmen. This was what was missing from Weiner's oeuvre, his masterpiece. He never wrote his chef d'oeuvre. (…) It's a pity, because although he didn't write much, all his works have stood the test of time. To this day, they remain masterpieces of 'literacy.
Antal Doráti (Switzerland)

“Weiner reaches the summit of his 'classical' period in the Concertino for piano-orchestra. This brilliantly orchestrated, harmonic piece in two movements, also perfect in its piano-technique, deserves a place among the best in piano music/literature and should often be performed in public. Perhaps the reason that the Concertino and other works of Weiner have not yet received the recognition they should have, lies in the fact that they do not bear the marks of their age. (…) Leo Weiner was not an innovator or a revolutionary. Already in his youth, he knew exactly where the borderline was in the process of 'progress' and to the end, he refused to cross this line. We might call this conservatism, or the courage of being settled in one's taste (Weiner could never lie when it came to giving an opinion. In the case of a newly performed 'modern' piece of music, he always said whether he liked it or not. For him, these were very important questions which one had to answer in complete honesty).

He hated fashionable '-isms' all his life and never believed that the artist's task should be expressing the age he lived in. The kind of art he needed and believed in was one that led humanity out of this age - an age that he despised with all his heart.” 
Lajos Kentner (England)

“This angelically unpractical man was his own worst manager. He never raised a finger to promote the performing of his excellent, timeless works. Of course Leo Weiner knew very well that what he wrote was flawless, and the rest didn't interest him one bit.”
Béla Böszörményi Nagy (USA)

The above excerpts are quoted from Weiner Studies (1989, Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music), and from the book Memories of Leó Weiner (1985, Zeneműkiadó Budapest, collected and edited by Melinda Berlász)