It was Toscanini who indirectly caused the completion of the Symphony in C major that Kodály had commenced as far back as the 1930s, but was only finished after the conductor's death in 1957. Dedicated to his memory, it was first heard at the Lucerne Festival on 16 August 1961 by the Swiss Festival Orchestra with Kodály's compatriot Ferenc Fricsay. The reception was cordial, though the work was considered something of a throwback to an earlier era. Indeed, its formal economy and orchestral transparency evoke the Classicism of Haydn and Mozart, along with the influence of such interwar symphonies as those by Roussel and Stravinsky, but the musical idiom has a rhythmic vitality and a harmonic astringency readily identifiable with Kodály which have come more into their own since the heyday of post-war modernism.

The opening Allegro begins with a purposeful theme on lower strings over timpani, presently heard over the whole orchestra. Its decisive mood finds contrast in a more ruminative theme that draws woodwind and strings into enticing accord, and is rounded off by a spirited codetta. There ensues a concise – if eventful – development of both these ideas on the way to an energetic culmination, soon tailing off to leave the second theme to be reprised on clarinets over lower strings. From here the music heads to a coda which culminates in a fitting burst of animation.

The central Andante moderato initially alternates between horn calls and a melody on strings of no mean pathos. Over lower strings, clarinet, flute and oboe inject a note of greater anxiety in a theme with a tangible 'Eastern' flavor, then woodwind continue with curiously archaic gestures that receive a searching response from the strings. Solo violin and clarinet gently alternate with lower strings while the music dies away in a mood of not wholly tranquil calm.

The final Vivo, continuing without pause, duly bursts into life with an ardent theme heard on unison horns then strings, its confident manner evident as it alternates with a lively secondary idea on woodwind. A central episode features deft tonal sideslips before the music heads back to its initial effervescence, from where excitement soon mounts towards a peremptory close.

Writer: Richard Whitehouse