Béla Kéler: Piano Miniatures

Piano duo Berešová & Brutovský

Lucia Berešová (1-8, 9, 11, 14) & Adam Brutovský (1-8, 10, 12, 13, 15)

1 Memory of Bardejov, Op. 31
2 Comet Csárdás, Op. 49
3 Werbőczy Csárdás, Op. 46
4 Tokaj Drops, Op. 54
5 Bouquet Csárdás, Op. 40
6 Rays of Memory, Op. 50
7 Greetings to My Homeland, Op. 56
8 Memory of Sibiu, Op. 123
9 Sempre Crescendo, Op. 119
10 Bardejov Spa Season Waltz
11 Mazzuchelli March, Op. 22
12 Przemyśl Mazurka, Op. 97
13 Joys of the Alps, Op. 96
14 Conference Quadrille, Op. 28
15 Farewell Polka, Op. 41

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In 1858 Kéler started to compose a set of eight csárdás - Hungarian Dances. The author's version of the Hungarian dances for piano four hands was released 1877 in two volumes by publisher Johann André - Offenbach am Main. The first dance Memory of Bardejov, op. 31 is the most performed theme created by Kéler, unfortunately in the Hungarian dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms, in which Brahms quoted 32 bars from the "Bartfeld-Csárdás" by Béla Kéler. The second dance Comet Csárdás, op. 49 Kéler dedicated to the leading personality of Hungarian cultural and political life in the second half of the 19th century - Mór Jókai. Kéler's memories of places where he worked, and especially of his homeland influenced many of his compositions as shown in the third dance Werböczy Csárdás, op.46, in the fourth Tokaj Drops, op. 54, the sixth Rays of Memory, op. 50 and in the seventh Greetings to My Homeland, op. 56. The fifth dance Bouquet Csárdás, op. 40 is named after a boy's hat with a bunch of little flowers. The eighth dance Memory of Sibiu, op. 123 is Kéler's reflection of the city of Sibiu (German name is Hermannstadt) in today's Romania, where he served in the 10th infantry-regiment of the duke Mazzuchelli as bandmaster.
The gallop Sempre Crescendo, op. 119 is the last of 13 galops Kéler composed. It was published by Bote & Bock in Berlin. Kéler wrote 76 waltzes (49 without opus number).
As a young man of 24 years he composed the waltz Bardejov Spa Season Waltz from which the manuscript is preserved. After the revision by the author (1874) this composition was published by J. B. Cramer & Co. in London under the title Romantic Life, op. 101.
On 1st of July 1861 Kéler finished in Pest the Mazzuchelli-March, op. 22, which was dedicated to his military regiment. This march is better known as Apollo-March WAB 115 by Anton Bruckner, whom the work was referred to by mistake.
1858 Kéler composed in Debrecen Przemyśl Mazurka, op. 97 and dedicated it to the duke Mazzuchelli in memory of the polish city of Przemyśl.
Joys of the Alps, op.96 is a set of five Styrian dances with typical grace notes.
Conference Quadrille, op. 28 was written in 1853 in Vienna. Its final version was created after the revision in Wiesbaden (1876). Each of the six parts of the quadrille is dominated by musical motives of different regions of Europe of that time: Prussia, Austria, Sardinia, Russia, England and France. This quadrille was published by Bote & Bock in Berlin, as well as the mentioned compositions with the opus numbers 22, 96 and 97.
The Farewell Polka, op. 41 was finished by Kéler in May 1855 in Pest. The author's version for piano was published in 1859 in Pest by Rózsavölgyi.