Review: Antal Szalai & his Gypsy Orchestra

Virtuosic technique and passion through a cheerful, unpretentious performance won Antal Szalai and his Gypsy Orchestra the admiration of a capacity audience at the Regent Theatre.

Antal Szalai & his Gypsy Orchestra
Regent Theatre
Thursday, Oct 14

The cheerful and cheeky blending of sounds of the great Romantic tradition of orchestral and film repertoire was all very familiar but wonderfully revisited.

Whether the gypsy tradition borrowed from the Strauss family, Brahms and Liszt, or they borrowed from the gypsies, certainly their sound has contributed to that still recognised and loved by the gypsy in all of us.

Szalai executed dramatically elongated slurs, flippant slides, plucked and strummed strings, beautiful high notes and harmonics, birdlike chirrups with thrilling speed and genial flamboyance.

Laszlo Feher played the Hungarian clarinet, the tarogato, also brilliantly, warming the sound of Szalai's beautiful violin. In solo items, the tarogato sounded like a husky clarinet. Feher produced some breathtakingly long passages and an eerie trilling.

Feher also played the Hungarian pan pipes, whose breathy sound made a good highlight. The technique of accompanying violist and double bass players was also interesting.

Strumming effects were produced by short, sharp bows on the viola and by flicking the rounded bow across the strings on the double bass.

The Hungarian cimbalom, a cross between a hammered harpsichord and dulcimer sounded bright and brassy, at times very Greek and others very eastern.

Jeno Farkas played dazzlingly fast and gave a rendition of Zorba the Greek to the delight of the audience who were only too happy to clap and stamp at the slightest invitation.

A standing ovation won an encore of Pokarekareana - a wonderful gesture from such a talented group - shame on us for fumbling with the words.

Brilliant showmanship, where the instruments did all the talking.

- Marian Poole