Lajtha: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6

Featuring

Nicolás Pasquet
Pécs Symphony Orchestra
László Lajtha

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Compositional Technique

Lajtha's symphonies, like Beethoven's, often fall into groups where odd-numbered symphonies have a tense, dramatic, or tragic character, while even-numbered ones are lighter and more relaxed.

Composer Biography

Lajtha was the only Hungarian composer since Franz Liszt to be elected a corresponding member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Lajtha tended to classify his works by mood, dividing his symphonic works into either tragic or cheerful categories.

Performer Biography

Nicolás Pasquet, the conductor on this album, won first prize at the 37th International Conducting Competition in Besançon in 1987.

Compositional Technique

The Sixth Symphony is unusual for Lajtha because it uses a classical four-movement form, whereas he typically employed a triple form of fast, slow, and fast movements.

Compositional Technique

Lajtha included a warning in the score of his Sixth Symphony, advising conductors that the prominent percussion parts should enrich the orchestral color, not make the symphony noisy or brutal.

Composer Biography

László Lajtha, a Hungarian composer, spent six months of each year in Paris until 1914, studying with Vincent d'Indy and befriending influential figures in the Paris musical scene.