Kósa: Chamber Music with Viola, Vol. 2

Gyorgy Kosa plays a pivotal role in the history of Hungarian classical music as pianist, composer, and educator. He himself had excellent teachers and so had a bright start to his career. His first was Bela Bartok at the Academy of Music between 1912 and 1916 and for two years he had the pleasure of working under the guidance of Erno Dohnanyi, one of the most charismatic musicians of the twentieth century. He studied composing with Zoltan Kodaly and later with Viktor Herzfeld. He was a wonderfully versatile composer trying all sorts of genres; he composed nine operas and eleven ballets. He also wrote over 50 oratorios and cantatas, and a large number of orchestral pieces- among them nine symphonies. He also composed music for solo instruments, predominatnly for the piano. His oeuvre also includes many chamber music and choral works. This release relveals Kosa’s chamber music with a focus on the viola and clearly reflects the intimate relationship the composer had with this instrument.