MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rozsa: Vintner's Daughter / Symphony in 3 Movements

The Symphony in Three Movements by Rózsa (b. 1907) was the composer's first large-scale work. Composed in 1930, it's a youthful and exhuberant piece, somewhat--but not overly--influenced by the symphonies being produced by the great French and British composers. What Rózsa was doing (as they all were doing) was incorporating motifs from folk sources--in his case, folk music from Hungary. But even when he intentionally draws from French folk music sources, as he did for The Vintner's Daughter (1955), the work sounds more Hungarian than French. Rózsa's music--even his film music--should have more currency than it does. He's quite good. --Paul Cook