Sunday Classics preview: Musical funny business from two great composers and a great conductor

by Ken

I don't know what exactly we're previewing tonight, since I still don't know what Sunday's Classics piece is going to be, but I've got some recordings to share that relate to pieces that will be coming up, either this week or in weeks to come.

FUNNY AND SUITE

One of these weeks, though probably not this one, we're going to be talking about funny music, music that intends to be funny while still being of the utmost musical seriousness. Two of our prime exhibits will be gorgeously colorful, arrestingly beautiful, and frequently hilarious suites: Zoltán Kodály's Háry János and Prokofiev's Lt. Kijé, a once-popular (and altogether sensible) LP pairing.

I've long treasured two LP couplings of these suites, which I haven't heard in a while. In anticipation of the piece I'm thinking about, I found plausibly priced copies of the CDs online (and a third of the Kodály, with other couplings). The first has arrived, and it not only lived up to my recollections; if anything, it surpassed them.

I don't think anyone would think of either George Szell or Klaus Tennstedt as Mr. Laffs. But both made recordings of these suites which I remember as at once brilliantly disciplined and bursting with musical color and life. It's the Szell that I'm still waiting for (on a Sony Essential Classics CD that throws in Szell's outstanding recording of the Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition. As far as I know, the Tennsted coupling hasn't been on CD since the original 1984 issue (duplicating the contents of the LP, meaning less than 46 minutes in total). That's what arrived in the mailbox this week, and as I said, the performances are if anything better than I remembered. There's a case to be made that 45-plus minutes of musical glory is a better value than 80 minutes of mediocrity.

What better way to start than with the beginnings of both suites? Kodály's famously begins with an orchestral sneeze that suggests that the teller of this tale, Háry János himself, is perhaps not to be absolutely believed.

KODÁLY: Háry János Suite:
i. Prelude: The Fairy Tale Begins


PROKOFIEV: Lt. Kijé Suite:
i. The Birth of Kijé


London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt, cond. EMI, recorded c 1983

TOMORROW NIGHT (barring a change in plans):

Another pair of newly acquired (old) CDs put fond recollections to the test.


SUNDAY CLASSICS POSTS

The current list is here.

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