Philharmonia Hungarica

The world's newest symphony orchestra has its headquarters in an old yellow palace in Baden, a spa near Vienna where Austrian families take the waters. The building's former tenants were Russian security and counter-espionage agents, and the doors on the upper floors are still heavily padded, having once muffled the sounds of police work. This fact has grim significance for the new tenants, almost all of them refugees from the Russian terror in Hungary. Last week, led by Conductor Zoltan Rozsnyai, 31, onetime associate conductor of the Budapest Philharmonic, Hungary's refugee musicians were starting a tour to prove that the new "Philharmonia Hungarica" has become a symphony orchestra in more than name.

When refugees from several Hungarian orchestras poured into Austria last winter, U.S. and Swiss funds helped house them and launch them on new musical careers. The musicians moved into a vacant hotel, and Conductor Rozsnyai set to work trying to whip them into shape. He prescribed six hours of practice a day; corridors echoed with violins being tuned and pianists rippling through arpeggios.

So far, the orchestra (now grown from 50 to 70 members) has surprised critics with its rapidly acquired ensemble discipline. It seems more successful with the works of Hungarian composers (Bartok, Kodaly) than in the standard repertory, stronger in the string section than in the brasses. To beef up the brass, Conductor Rozsnyai recently hired four Austrians; he also recruited an American violinist, clarinetist and horn player.

In last week's Vienna concert, the Philharmonia opened with a somewhat lackluster "Egmont" Overture, then launched with enthusiasm and devotion into Zoltan Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus, whose words, based on the 55th Psalm, were written during the 16th century Turkish rule in Hungary ("O hear the voice of my complaining/Terrors of death are fallen upon me'')

Musical high point of the evening: Bartok's Violin Concerto, with Yehudi Menuhin as soloist. The orchestra played with parade-drilled smoothness and reflex-sharp rhythmic feel. Said Menuhin afterwards: "It's the first time I ever played the whole concerto straight through at rehearsal without stopping and explaining. This music is in their blood; it's like American children dancing rock 'n' roll."

The Philharmonia Hungarica hopes to take a 12-to 15-week swing through the U.S. some time next spring or summer. Another high hope: adoption by some U.S. city.

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