WTJU Mar 9th, 2021 | By Ralph Graves
Hungarian composer and teacher Leo Weiner was a contemporary of Bela Bartok and Zoltan Kodaly. Like his colleagues, he used elements of Hungarian folk music in his work. Where he differed was in his style. Weiner’s music is more conservative, and solidly in the Post-Romantic tradition.
This volume includes an assortment of orchestral works by Weiner. The “Pastroal, phantaisie et fugue” is the most substantial piece on the album. Weiner composed it before he started exploring folk music.
It has an Impressionistic quality to it. Weiner’s use of modes keeps the work’s tonal center from being too strongly defined, giving the work a somewhat dreamy quality even in the fugue.