Arthur Fagen was responsible for Naxos’ excellent cycle of Martinu symphonies, so it’s no surprise that he leads Liszt’s own orchestra (more or less) in lively and enjoyable performances of the six Hungarian Rhapsodies that were arranged for orchestra by Franz Doppler working under the composer’s supervision. Indeed, given the way that subsequent generations of arrangers have monkeyed with this music, it’s very nice to have the orchestrations that Liszt himself approved. Fagen treats the music seriously. The funeral march that opens No. 1, and the darker episodes in No. 4, have real gravitas, while he lets his hair down quite effectively in the ebullient Nos. 2 and 6. With fine orchestral playing and bright, slightly bass-shy sonics, this release earns a solid recommendation in a series of works that appear less frequently together on a single disc than their erstwhile popularity might suggest.
