Növények are settings of seven poems by four great Hungarian poets: Attila József (1905-1937), Miklós Radnóti (1909-1944), Sándor Weöres (1913-1989) and Otto Orbán (1936-2002). The word Növények means plants, but with the sense of ‘things that grow’ rather than ‘things that are stuck in the ground’. All the poems use botanical images as metaphors for aspects of the human condition. The metaphor is particularly direct in the case of Radnóti, who was murdered by Hungarian troops loyal to the Nazis. His last poems, including ‘Gyökér’, were found in a notebook in his coat pocket when his body was exhumed over a year later. Besides Növények, Haydn's String Quartet in G Minor Op 20, No 3, and an arrangement of A legszebb Virág by Ligeti are also included on this recording.

Only one year and a half after their first meeting in Budapest in early 1905, Bartók and Kodály were eager to jointly publish their first settings of Hungarian folk songs. In their foreword to the volume Magyar népdalok (Hungarian Folk Songs), they declare their goal thus: “…to get the general public to know and appreciate folk songs.”

Founded and directed by the Franco-Hungarian conductor Bruno Kele-Baujard, the Ensemble Zene has made a specialty of daring and off-the-beaten path programs. Its evocative name - "zene" is the Hungarian word for "music" - inclines it towards the Magyar-speaking repertoire, and it is therefore quite natural that it devotes its second recording to the a cappella works of Bartók, Kodály and Ligeti, whose centenary is being celebrated in 2023.

The story of The Qualitons began in 2007 when DJ/producer Kanada Káosz, after several years of organizing "What Da Funk" events in Budapest, was invited to DJ at the Berlin Soul Ascension Festival (SAF). As a real fan of live Funk and R&B bands he had always thought that it was a shame that Hungary didn't have a single band in these genres. When he saw some of the greatest funk/soul/beat bands playing at the SAF, he went back to Budapest inspired to organize such a band in Hungary.

THY CATAFALQUE is a metamorphic entity that’s constantly evolving, showcasing musical ingenuity that’s as limitless as it is daring. Meaning “The Earth,” ‘Alföld’ is grounded in the Avant Garde project’s heavy beginnings. While the record takes a cue from THY CATAFALQUE’s early days, mastermind Tamás Kátai’s modern progressive instincts shine through, elevating the record beyond the realm of metal as-you-know-it and once again creating a cutting-edge sound that’s far ahead of its time.

The first Roma play of fate, or gipsy musical, Somnakaj, was born as a result of the serious preparatory work of several well-known Hungarian artists and creators.

Bartók's wrote his only opera, the one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle in 1911, but it didn't receive its premiere until May 24, 1918 in a concert shared with the composer's The Wooden Prince. Bluebeard's plot is about the ill-fated Judith who, in spite of warnings, marries Duke Bluebeard and goes with him to his ominous castle where she finds seven locked doors. Judith insists on unlocking each one, finding behind them a torture chamber, an armoury, a treasury, a garden, Bluebeard's empire, a lake of tears and, behind the seventh door, Bluebeard's three previous wives, not dead, but immortal. Judith then joins the other wives behind the seventh door.

Recorded in the studio of the Hungarian Radio. If you use headphones, you get a better impression of the orchestra.