Andrei Eshpai is an ethnic Mari, a group that has its traditional roots in Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian cultures. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory and later did post-graduate studies with Aram Khachaturian. Although Eshpai’s music is little known in the West, he is a prolific composer of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, and other works written for a wide variety of instrumentations. Many of these works reflect the influence of his love for Jazz.Eshpai’s Hungarian Tunes was originally written for violin solo and orchestra. The piece evokes the free and natural sort of violin playing idiomatic among Hungarian gypsies—a style that colors more outside the lines than the traditional Western mode of playing might, and one in which the violin feels like an extension of the human voice in its expressiveness and grain.Notes by Yevgeny Kutik and Timothy Bozarth
Classical Music | Violin Music
Andrei Eshpai
Rhapsody: Hungarian Tunes Play
Recorded on 07/23/2014, uploaded on 02/09/2015
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Andrei Eshpai is an ethnic Mari, a group that has its traditional roots in Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian cultures. He studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory and later did post-graduate studies with Aram Khachaturian. Although Eshpai’s music is little known in the West, he is a prolific composer of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, and other works written for a wide variety of instrumentations. Many of these works reflect the influence of his love for Jazz. Eshpai’s Hungarian Tunes was originally written for violin solo and orchestra. The piece evokes the free and natural sort of violin playing idiomatic among Hungarian gypsies—a style that colors more outside the lines than the traditional Western mode of playing might, and one in which the violin feels like an extension of the human voice in its expressiveness and grain. Notes by Yevgeny Kutik and Timothy Bozarth
Performances by same musician(s)
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, M. 8
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28
Beau Soir
Baal Shem
Sonata for Violin and Piano
Waltz from Cinderella
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
Courtesy of International Music Foundation.