Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) was a prolific Hungarian composer who wrote over 700 works in virtually every genre. His output includes concertos, operas, ballets, songs, and 75 film scores.

He also taught for most of his working life: In his post-war position as Professor of Composition at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, his students included Kurtág and Ligeti. This release from Toccata is the sixth in a series of Farkas’s orchestral works. Conducted by Gabor Takács-Nagy, formerly leader of the Takács String Quartet, it contains three contrasting works from a short period of the composer’s life.

The ballet The Sly Students was composed in 1949. The complete score was revised seven years later, but the suite we hear on this disc was prepared by the composer himself at the time of the ballet’s initial production. The six movements are individual dances in various styles, including a rollicking opening, a lavish waltz, a Hungarian dance (The Students’ Dance) and a brief gypsy czardas featuring a solo violin. While Hungarian influences are clear in some instances,...