Hungary's most famous and innovative composer, Zoltan Kodaly explains his artistic mission thus: 'One must write original works, whose point of departure, in their texts and melodies, is the child's soul and the child's voice.' One of Kodaly's main interests was the teaching of singing in schools, and conductor Denes Szabo has followed that path, beginning at Primary School No. 4 in Nyiregyhaza in 1969. He directs the school's Cantemus Children's Chorus in 21 of Kodaly's compositions for children's, youth and female choruses, like 'See the gypsies,' 'Evening song,' 'Seven easy children's choruses,' 'Hippity hoppity,' 'Honey, honey,' 'Gypsy lament,' 'St. Gregory's Day,' 'Angels and Shepherds' and 'Epiphany.' Spirited, award-winning Cantemus, directed by Szabo, is the perfect choice to sing this difficult, beautiful material. 'Choral Music of Kodaly 7' is a treat!

Hungarian master composer Lajos Bardos (1899-1987) was an outstanding figure of the prominent generation of students of Kodaly and Bartok who, inspired by their ideas, did much for Hungarian musical culture. As with Kodaly and Bartok, after becoming a master, Bardos taught generations coming after him and was an active choral conductor (for the Cecilia Chorus, the Budapest Chorus and others) for decades. His work as a composer is represented on this disc by a selection of choruses for children's and female voices. Denes Szabo directs the Cantemus Children's Choir and Pro Musica in these 27 lively choral works: 'Cantemus!,' 'On Sunny Roads,' 'Awake You, Youth,' 'Blow the Pipe,' 'Three Choruses for Children,' the dramatic 'Recruiting Song of the Hussars,' 'Breeze,' 'Hey, Put It Right!,' the 2-part 'The Bride,' 'To Ferenc Liszt,' 'In Memory of Bartok,' 'Summer-Sunday,' 'Gold-Winged Angel,' and the sacred songs 'Ave Maris Stella,' 'Ave Maria' and 'The Blessed Virgin Mary.' There is piano accompaniment on a few tunes. The high, bright voices of the children go perfectly with this material by a man whose life and work remain a gift to Hungary and to the world.

Bartok's two- and three-part choruses for children's and female voices, his best-known choral cycle worldwide, appears at first sight to be distinct from the rest of his oeuvre. It is a textually inspired composition, whose arrival might seem unexpected in the period when he composed large instrumental works in the consolidated classical style, such as the String Quartet No. 5 (1934), the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1936), and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937). Yet it sits easily in relation to his oeuvre as a whole.