Search - Balazs Pòka, Sandor Solyom-Nagy, Zoltan Kodaly :: Kodaly: Háry János

Classic recording, but...

Slovakophile | 02/01/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This release by Hungaroton is a mixed bag like the competing set of Hary Janos made by London/Decca. Unlike the latter, Hungaroton's liner notes include the texts of the Hungarian lyrics with a translation into English, thus allowing the listener to follow along with the music. However, this recording is hardly more complete than the one made by Decca because it too includes only about 95% of the music from the opera/singspiel and omits all of the dialogues (Decca's recording substitutes the original Hungarian dialogues with a loosely paraphrased narration in English by Peter Ustinov). In a certain way, this Hungarian release is disjointed compared to Decca's version since it is just a collection of songs and instrumental pieces, whereas the British release tries to bridge the gaps with Ustinov's narrative thus giving a better sense of how the music fits into the plot.



Nevertheless, those interested in Hary Janos (even if they already have Decca's version) may still want Hungaroton's set since it does include texts of the songs. I also find the singers on Hungaroton's version to be more spirited and more suitable than those on Decca's version even though both companies use fairly well-known Hungarian soloists (e.g. Solyom-Nagy, Palcso et al. by Hungarton; Melis, Komlossy et al. by Decca). This comment arises from the fact that Hary Janos is not an opera in the strict sense and has noticeable similarities to an operetta or musical (possibly the best definition would be "Singspiel"). Many of the songs from Hary Janos are based largely on (or even copied from) Hungarian folk songs that Kodaly collected in ethnomusicological field-work with fellow-composer Bela Bartok. These songs lend themselves better to the less solemn approach taken by Hungaroton's soloists rather than the more operatic one taken by Decca's soloists.



Hungaroton did release a complete recording of Hary Janos on audio cassette and vinyl in 1981 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth but they have been long out of print. Why Hungaroton did not take the logical step of releasing a version on CDs that matches the original complete set on vinyl or cassettes I do not know. If fans could find that version on cassette or vinyl, they would be in for a real treat by getting a chance to hear all of the dialogues and music."