MÁTÉ HOLLÓS (b.1954): Dreamlessness and at last Dream (Hungarian Radio Orchestra; Tamás Vásáry), Adagio ed appassionato for Violin, Flute and Piano (Péter Somogyi [violin], Zoltán Gyöngyössy [flute], Emese Virág [piano]), Gemini Guitars (Péter Katona, Zoltán Katona [guitars]), I Wander the World (Edit Kolopmár [voice], István Matuz [bass flute], Virág [piano]), Songs, Float from my Lips (Rivka Golani [viola]), Kajetan Tyl (Csaba Szegedi [baritone], Somogyi [violin], Kousay H. Mahdi [cello], Gyöngyössy, Gergely Ittzés [flutes], András Horn, László Kiss Gy. [clarinets], István Hartenstein [bassoon]).

Description: A common thread that seems to run through these diverse compositions is an acknowledgement of tradition, or a reinvention of it, especially folk-traditions in eastern European music. I wander makes this the most explicit, providing an instrumental 'accompaniment' to a tape of a Gypsy woman singing an actual folk song. The guitar duo and Adagio ed appassionato are instantly accessible, and inhabit an æsthetic of almost naïve simplicity, while Omaggio is richly and warmly neo-romantic. Insistent melodiousness and a tendency toward modality are constant reminders of the sung origins of folk musics which inspire Hollós. The orchestral Dreamlessness at half an hour, is the most ambitious work here, an eloquent tone-poem; traditional, certainly - Kodály and Suk come to mind (and, disconcertingly, Panufnik, in the driving rhythms that introduce and interrupt the central section) - but full-blooded and effective, ending with an outpouring of overtly emotional melody in full orchestral garb. Hungarian-English texts.