Arthur Winograd and the MGM Orchestra in Kodaly and Rozsa

I know that a number of people have been waiting for this particular lp and I was lucky to find it this week in the three for a dollar pile! Here we have Arthur Winograd leading the MGM Orchestra in Kodaly's 'Summer Evening' and Rozsa's "Hungarian Serenade." I believe this record was recorded in 1957 and it is issued here in a good, though dryly recorded, monaural pressing.

Zoltan Kodaly

This may have been the premiere recording of the two works on this record. Sadly, both are pretty much forgotten today and its a shame since they are atmospheric, expertly written and, very, very listenable. Summer Evening was Kodaly's graduation piece from the conservatory in Budapest and it's excellence earned him a scholarship to study abroad. As with most of Kodaly's output, it is highly influenced by folk music and this tone poem of sorts is a collection of episodes that are strung together into one cohesive piece. Kodaly revised it in 1930 and this is the version presented by Winograd.

Miklos Rozsa

The Hungarian Serenade by Rosza is one of this composer's earliest pieces, written after he had abandoned the study of chemistry for music, and it was premiered in Paris. Though Rosza admittedly did not like living in Hungary, he, from time to time, drew inspiration from his native country for his compositions. This "suite" of short pieces is an absolute delight since the writing is witty, sharp, and perfectly structured. Rosza, like Korngold, suffered from being pegged as a film composer but here is a terrific opportunity to hear music that was written long before this composer began his successful tenure in Hollywood.

Arthur Winograd

Winograd and the superb MGM players prove to be honest and thoughtful interpreters of this fare. Though a Dorati might have brought a bit more authentic atmosphere to the music, Winograd acquits himself well in, again, music that was probably quite unfamiliar to many of the musicians. Very enjoyable listening these sounds from old Hungary.

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By chance...I happened upon more...drumroll.. Arthur Winograd!

I was looking for something else in my cellar and, by luck, chanced upon another Arthur Winograd issue; this time, it is the maestro conducting the Mozart serenades K. 375 and K. 388 for wind ensemble. The cover above is from the Heliodor release, mine is the plain white jacket MGM record.

Outside of a small blip at the beginning of the last movement of K 375, the lp was in very good shape. I did not separate movements but each serenade is contained in its entirety within one file.

It's a shame that the wind ensemble is not named. There is some fine playing going on here and it would have been nice to know who, or where the musicians are from. That sais, I'm glad I came upon this - I had forgotten I had it. Nice to offer yet another example of Winograd's art.

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A small remembrance for Arthur Winograd

This one is for Larry Austin who was kind of enough to remind everyone of the unfortunate passing of Arthur Winograd.

This particular recording was one of a number that Winograd made in London, along with Alfred Wallenstein, with this very fine pickup orchestra,"The Virtuoso Symphony of London." Winograd conducted the "highlights" programs while Wallenstein tackled full scale orchestral works. The Audio Fidelity Company had high hopes that they could develop a label that would sell on a mass scale while promoting itself as the most state of the art in high fidelity. Well, as we know, it wasn't to be though the products of the short association display good intentions and excellent musical programming.

This collection of marches is a lot of fun and well worth hearing for the no nonsense presentation and fine playing of the orchestra. I think that it is a fitting tribute to a  very fine musician.

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