Leó Weiner was one of the most important of all Hungarian pedagogues as well as being a distinguished composer. The success of his Serenade, written when he was 21, was immediate – its light, intimate and richly melodic qualities, some of which derive from stylised Hungarian dances, are still captivating today. The Divertimento no.3 and Variations on a Hungarian Folksong mine joyful music from a collection in Budapest’s Museum of Ethnography. The Violin Concerto no.1 is a masterly orchestration of his Violin Sonata, op.9, alternating between the playful and the dramatic. The performance heard here restores 115 bars that were cut from the fourth movement, making this the first complete recording.

Conductor Valéria Csányi has recorded all four of the Weiner albums in this series. She has worked extensively at the Hungarian State Opera, conducting more than 700 performances. She has toured Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Mexico. Csányi has made recordings for Naxos including the operetta Fürstin Ninetta by Johann Strauss II with the Stockholms Strauss Orkester (866022728) as well as the first complete recording of Erkel’s opera István király (‘King Stephen’, 866034546), Széchényi’s Complete Dances for Orchestra (8573807), and Weiner’s ballet Csongor and Tünde (8573491), Toldi – Symphonic Poem (8573847) and Divertimentos nos. 1 and 2 (8574125).

‘It is clearly a labour of love on the part of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Budapest and conductor, who bring every section to life with energy and sensitivity. The sound is up there with Naxos’s best, and it is a recording of musicological significance’ (Fanfare on Vol.2, 8573847).

Divertimentos nos. 1 and 2 are on Vol.3 (8574125): ‘The performances are excellent… Valéria Csányi leads members of the Budapest Symphony with a great sense of control. The recorded sound is excellent’, wrote Fanfare.