Rózsa wrote this duo-a sonata in all but name-in his early 20s, long before he had any notion of scoring Hollywood movies. He'd obtained a thorough German education at the Leipzig Conservatory, but this work, like almost all his concert scores, speaks with a thick Hungarian accent. Rózsa tended to take his inspiration from folk song rather than dance, so most of the duo lacks the irresistible rhythmic impetus that made such other Hungarian works as Kodály's Galánta Dances so popular. It does, however, allow the violin to sing broad melodies full of Magyar inflections. The first movement, Tranquillo, lets the material unfold at a moderate pace, and develops it in essentially a rondo format. The brief Allegretto capriccioso does evoke dances of the countryside, but soon gives way to the third movement, Largo doloroso. Largo it is, but "dolorous" would be an exaggeration; this music, however serious and emotive, does not quite reach the heights of passion that would characterize Rózsa's later scores. The finale, Allegro vivo e giusto, flirts with the exuberant, complex rhythms familiar from Bartók's more folkish scores, but this material is often edged aside by more lyrical passages.



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