Lajtha - Sym No 7 - Pasquet, Pecs SO (1994) [Philidor; FLAC]

Laszlo Lajtha was one of the most highly respected Hungarian composers of his day, but one who fell out of favor with the Communist regime as early as 1948. 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 softened over time, though his attitude towards the government never did.

This work didn't help his case with the government. Originally entitled Autumn, it fooled no one: the composer was a well known sympathizer with the attempted revolution in his native land, and was soon known abroad as the Revolution Symphony. His Seventh in number, it is in many respects his most dissonant and anguished. As he was to eventually write many years later, "The musical instruments grieve at the tragedies of Hungary, pray for truth and quote the sounds of the hymn for a peaceful future." But there's precious little piece, here. It's first performance in Hungary was in 1959, during a period of gradual thawing under the Kadar regime.


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