Lajtha - Sym No 6 - Pasquet, Pecs SO (1996) [Philidor; FLAC]

Laszlo Lajtha was one of the most highly respected Hungarian composers of his day, a good friend of both Bartok and Kodaly; but one who fell out of favor with the Communist regime as early as 1948. His works were seldom performed in his homeland, and he was repeatedly punished by the loss of valuable commissions and posts. Lengthy protests from abroad at his being denied a visa eventually worked, and he was expecting to travel to France (where he'd initially studied composition), when he died suddenly in 1963. A prolific composer of both symphonies and string quartets, his musical style changed and became less astringent over time, though his attitude towards the government never did.

Lajtha's symphonies, like those of Beethoven, tend to swing on an expressive pendulum. Between the angst-ridden Fifth and Seventh, came his Sixth: much lighter in texture, definitely with reminders of Hungarian folk musics of which he was a master, but with a sense of parody that sat unpleasantly, as usual, with the government. What was one to make of the blowzy, overblown march that briefly leads the symphony off? Was it casting aspersions at the Communist government's rule? Alas, this was just a couple of years before the abortive Revolution of 1956, and the crackdown that would make even the mockery of the Sixth seem like betrayal to the government that crushed the rebellion and killed both its leaders and so many of their followers.

A bio is enclosed. You can find all my classical uploads by searching on Philidor, or just looking in this regularly updated thread:

https://kat.cr/community/show/philidor-s-classical-stuff/