An influential teacher shines in an aural feast
The Strad Issue: January 2026
Description: An influential teacher shines in an aural feast
Musicians: Júlia Pusker (violin) MÁV Symphony Orchestra, Budapest/Valéria Csányi
Works: Weiner: Violin Concerto no.1; Variations on a Hungarian folksong; Serenade; Divertimento no.3 ‘Hungarian Impressions’
Catalogue number: NAXOS 8574707
Leó Weiner taught for many years at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, where his students included Bartók, Kodály and Dohnányi. As a composer he had immediate and lasting success with his Serenade of 1906, which is included here: a four-movement work with the distinctive tang of Hungarian rhythm and melody.
The date of 1958 for his First Violin Concerto is misleading as it’s an orchestration of his 1911 Violin Sonata, a work of great vitality and lyrical invention. It opens with a winding theme from the violin, backed and complemented by dialogue with the orchestra, sometimes forceful, at others wistful and gentle. The flute is a frequent partner to violinist Júlia Pusker’s sweet-toned, pliant playing.
In the second-movement Allegro, imbued with rhythmic vitality, Pusker dances along with the orchestral writing, which mixes high jinks and bombast, and plenty of prominent timpani. Her playing has sophisticated character and finesse to complement Weiner’s earthy folkiness.
The third movement opens with a long, winding cantilena, in which Pusker is sensual, emotionally expressive and dramatic. In the final Presto she scampers along, dispensing rapid passagework and a smattering of dotted rhythms with aplomb before Weiner switches to lyrical, contemplative mode, with some fruity violin playing, before an energetic finish.
Pusker is a persuasive advocate of Weiner’s concerto. The composer’s skills as an orchestral writer are evident everywhere on this disc, which is presented with a fair amount of acoustic bloom.
TIM HOMFRAY
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