Vittorio Monti was an Italian violinist working in Paris, and in 1904 he wrote the one piece that kept his name alive. Czardas follows the Hungarian dance form: a slow, brooding opening, then a fast section that keeps speeding up.
It belongs to the violin, but everyone borrows it. Today it’s Brian Luce on flute and Carrol McLaughlin on harp, the album Allume again. The flute’s tone is woody and a little dusky, which suits the slow opening. In the fast part, the harp plays the cimbalom.