Andras Farkas & Budapest Ensemb Hungarian Gypsy Music CD - Import

This collection of traditional Hungarian gypsy classics is performed by Andras Farkas, a veteran of concert circuits and hotel circuits alike. The songs range from the more relaxed love songs to the fiery dances, always with Farkas' violin leading the ensemble. The ensemble can switch relatively well from a controlled movement together to a stretch of collective improvisation at a moment's notice, with punctuations provided by the cimbalom from time to time to pull the group back together. Some of the more interesting features of this album are perhaps those items that aren't exactly part of the Hungarian group repertoire: the solos. The cellist performs a nice rendition of a street tango early in the album, and the cimbalom player provides an outstanding rendition of a pair of czardas, a slow and a fast one. When a good cimbalom player goes into a fast passage, it makes for a good show of virtuosity, and this one is no exception. Given the wealth of Hungarian (and Romanian, among others) gypsy music available on the market, this album is rather overshadowed by the larger groups on larger labels (Muzikas, Taraf de Haidouks). At the mid-priced level though, it's not a bad buy for a quick listen of the same kind of material, although performed by a rather lesser-known band. ~ Adam Greenberg