Toccata Classics continues its survey of the music of the Hungarian composer Ferenc Farkas (1905–2000) with this sparkling album of works for wind ensemble – from chamber groups to full-blown wind bands. The chief characteristics of all eight scores recorded here are infectious good humour and a high charge of foot-tapping rhythmic energy.

Like his teacher Respighi in Rome, Farkas went back to 16th- and 17th-century originals and brought them to life in arrangements for modern instruments.

The recordings here have been made by the Budapest Wind Symphony, which brings together the best brass and woodwind players in Hungary.

László Marosi enjoys a career leading orchestras and wind bands at concerts and festivals and in recording studios and academies around the world. Although he is very active in his native Hungary, his work is international: he is currently the artistic director of the International Band Festival of Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina; he also teaches conducting at the University of Central Florida. A keen proponent of contemporary music, he has premiered many works for orchestra and wind ensemble. He has been making commercial recordings since the 1980s and has appeared on dozens of albums. For his contributions to Hungarian contemporary music, he has twice been awarded the Artisjus Prize by the Hungarian Composers Union.

The Budapest Wind Symphony is the elite wind ensemble of Hungary, inviting musicians from the leading orchestras of the country. It draws its members from the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera House, the Dohnányi Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian Central Army Band.