Magyar News, 2000. szeptember-2001. augusztus (11. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-09-01 / 1. szám
Gypsy music in Lockwood-Mathews by Erika Papp Faber A historic setting for a historic family," is the way Éva Hlazs, owner of the Pearl of Budapest Restaurant in Fairfield characterized the dinner concert at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion on June 1st. She was speaking of the gypsy orchestra of Sándor Déki Lakatos Jr., for which she had rented the Norwalk landmark, and served a four course dinner, a dream she had entertained for a long time. Sándor Déki Lakatos Jr. is the seventh in a line of gypsy ''primas" (leaders of a gypsy orchestra) currently on tour in the United States. He has been leading his own orchestra since the age of 18, in 1984. They perform nightly at a prestigious restaurant in the Castle Hill area of Budapest. The Lakatos family settled in the Hungarian city of Győr in the 1600's. Three generations ago, there were no boys to carry on the family's musical tradition, only three girls, so they added the mother's name "Déki" to maintain the family tradition. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion was completed in 1868 for investment banker and railroad magnate Le Grand Lockwood, and is considered to be one of the finest surviving examples of "America's castles". A 62-room palatial thing you can do with a synthesizer!" The elder Lakatos has been prímás of his own orchestra since 1964, and has never been without a contract. He also played with his father's gypsy orchestra at the Hungarian Pavilion at the Brussels’ World's Fair in 1958, when the King of Belgium sat down to listen. Instead of the allotted 5 minutes, the King stayed for 25, completely upsetting the royal timetable. He later sent a watch inscribed: "To Sándor Lakatos, the king of the prímás and the prímás of kings!" Guests could purchase Hungarian wines to accompany their meal from Bodvin Wines, which had set up several tables outside the dining room. Following the dinner, the Lakatos Orchestra moved into the rotunda, where they performed works by Brahms, Hubay, Lehar, Liszt and others, some in their own arrangement, as well as solos on the clarinet and cimbalom, a Hungarian stringed instrument played with two soft-ended "hammers”. The virtuoso playing of the six member orchestra combined with the fantastic acoustics of the rotunda turned the concert into a music-lover's delight. You could reach the Pearl of Budapest Restaurant calling 203-259-4777. residence, it was designed in the Second Empire style, but was lost to the Lockwoods as a result of the crash of 1869. It was then bought by Charles D. Mathews, whose family lived there until 1938. Subsequently, the City of Norwalk bought it. and after a long period of neglect, the Museum was formed in 1966, for the purpose of restoring the Mansion. The drawing room with its glorious inlaid woodwork doors and mantelpiece imported from Italy, and its stuccoed ceiling was restored in 1986. This is where, courtesy of Abbey Rental, 10 tables had been set up to accommodate the 76 reservation-only guests that Thursday evening. The Pearl of Budapest in Fairfield closed for the evening, as Éva Hlazs brought in a delicious dinner of chicken soup, pork paprikas with spaetzle, cucumber salad and apple strudel. She also brought her personnel who. without fanfare, efficiently served the assembled crowd with new china she had bought specifically for this occasion, and while the Lakatos orchestra played gypsy music, going from table to table in true Hungarian fashioa "These days, the primes must have a musical education from the Hungarian Academy of Music," explains the elder Sándor Déki Lakatos, who plays in his son's orchestra on this trip. "But gypsy music is a different art form, and that can only be learned from being shown, hand to hand. It's not some-LeJi:The Lockwood- Mathews Mansion in Norwalk, CT built in 1868. Right: The dining room of the mansion. This was restored in 1986 Page 3
