Michael Brand string quartets

[eschiss1]

That is, Mihaly Mosonyi, but I just thought I'd be ... oh... (not for any ulterior motive, just because). Sorry.
See here... (Records International January 2011 announcement). He wrote 6 in all, this says, in groups of 4 and 2, of which we're given examples from both sets.

[Mark Thomas]

My copy of this enjoyable CD arrived last week. I wouldn't particularly disagree with Jeff Joneikis' characterisation of the three works in his description in the RecordsInternational link given above by Eric.

Pleasant listening though they are, what they do lack, and I think this typical of all of Brand/Mosonyi's music that I've heard, is any individuality. It recalls Mendelssohn, or Schumann, or Beethoven or, when he's in Hungarian nationalist mode, Liszt or Erkel. I'm not playing the lazy Gramophone critic trick of characterising an unknown composer in a "sounds like" game here, rather I think that he seems to be essentially an imitative composer. This makes the high regard for him in Hungary perplexing, although maybe that's because of his very public switch from a German identity (Brand) to a Magyar one (Mosonyi), rather than any intrinsic vaue in his music.