Kevin Sutton writes:
>For heaven's sake, it's not about the damn covers! It's about the music....
Precisely! In this vein, I have a query regarding something on this page.
It's about the music of Sandor Veress (1907-1992). I've approached the
page's owner, but I'm not as patient as I'd like to be -- or maybe there's
no one there.
At the very bottom of that page a CD cover of his music appears with these
words added on: "Please, Mr. Bond, do not adjust your set; we've taken
over all global communications." Grammon seems to be the name of the label,
and the CD appears to contain: Concertante Music for 12 Strings; Concerto
for Clarinet and Orchestra; and 4 Transylvanian Tanze for String Orchestra.
My German doesn't stretch to 'Tanze;' pieces? (The URL, of course, is
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/2216/bad.html.)
I'd be grateful if someone could tell me about this disk; the proper
discographical references, and so forth.
Veress admittedly looks a little glum on the cover, but I can live with
that. In fact, I do: what I confront in the mirror ain't much prettier!
My money's on the music. Rather, I'd like it to be.
...because Veress is a fantastic composer. He takes after Bartok, who
taught him. It shows, IMO, very positively; at least in the firmness of
his musical language, something (Hungarian?) about the dissonance, and
the sweep yet overall tightness of his compositions. I say this on the
strength of just one CD: It contains Hommage a Paul Klee*; Concerto
for Piano, Strings and Percussion**; and 6 Czardas** (A Schiff*, Denes
Varjon**, piano; Budapest String Orchestra under Heinz Holliger. Teldec
0630-19992-2) An ECM New Series' CD also has a few pieces by Veress: a
solo violin sonata; a solo cello sonata; and a trio for strings -- together
with a Cello Suite by Bach. Other than these 2 items, as far as I know,
there's no more Veress on disk!
Many thanks in advance to whoever would kindly show me to be wrong: tell
me about this CD.
Bert Bailey, in Ottawa
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