KODALY: ORCHESTRAL WORKS - KERTESZ, LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

Collected on a single CD are István Kertész’s complete orchestral recordings of Kodály’s music together with the choral song, The Peacock, which precedes the Peacock Variations. For thrill, swagger and colour – not to mention Decca’s state-of-the-art sound – these recordings set a benchmark by which all others will be measured. Reviewing the recordings of the Háry János Suite and the Dances of Galánta, Edward Greenfield, reviewing the original LP in The Gramophone’s January 1965 edition predicted that this would become something of a demonstration disc. 

A winner from the start. The combination of conductor and orchestra could hardly fail in this brilliant, extrovert music, and with Decca's most spectacular recording quality I imagine this will become something of a demonstration disc […] Dances from Galánta, not quite so empty a piece of brilliance as Ravel’s Bolero but almost in that category, is made to sound very convincing here, right from the moment when Barry Tuckwell's horn lets out a marvellous sort of cock-a-doodle-doo at the beginning. --GRAMOPHONE

Kodály: Dances of Galanta
Kodály: Háry János Suite
Kodály: The Peacock
Kodály: Variations on a Hungarian Folksong 'The Peacock'

Brighton Festival Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
István Kertész