Gyula David - Hungarian Composer
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| Posted on November 12, 2016 at 10:50:57 | ||
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Posts: 26480
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
 I don't know why this flitted into my mind this morning, but I just remembered the little-known composer Gyula David (or maybe it's David Gyula - those Hungarians should get the order of their names straight!). Back in the late 60's / early 70's, when the composer was still alive (he died in 1977), I used to play his Flute Sonata with a friend who was very worried that other flutists would find out about the work (which we both considered an unknown gem) and play it themselves - so he always would collect the piano part back after each performance we did, and he always wanted to make sure I hadn't made any photocopies! ;-) He also wrote a letter to the composer asking him to explain the form of the work, and, sure enough, received a reply back in quaint English (e.g., "three-partition" form, rather than "tri-partite" form, etc.)   I guess you could say that the style of this music is mild post-Bartok. It was probably all that the Hungarian government allowed at the time, and thus was probably denigrated by our more "forward looking" (or "freedom loving"!) critics in the West. I just listened to a couple of uTube videos of the last movement of his Viola Concerto, one in barely tolerable sound (and even worse video quality) but in an exciting performance by an Asian babe, and the other in better sound, but with a more pedestrian performance by an American woman (and a piano reduction collaboration instead of a real orchestra). There's also an excellent audio-only file there of the old Hungaroton recording conducted by Ferencsik. I think the music is brilliant and charming - it might be worth your time:
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