Notable examples include the stage works Liliomfi (1950) and Szelistyei asszonyok (The Women of Szelistye; 1951), the chamber cantata Júlia énekek (Julia Songs; 1956), the overture Az ifjúsághoz (To Youth; 1957), and the Sinfonia concertante for clarinet and strings (1963).
[1] Sárközy was among the second generation of Kodály's pupils, coming to maturity during the war and composing at the height of the Communist régime, when contact with the music of Western Europe was cut off.
"[2] Walsh draws a comparison with the work of Farkas, another of his teachers, stating that both employ "lightly weighted textures and elegant craftmanship, with a trace of baroque filigree".
[1] Júlia énekek (Julia Songs; 1956) – a cantata on texts by the 16th-century poet Bálint Balassi, accompanied by flute, harp and harpsichord – is named as the best of his earlier works in Grove's;[1][5] Walsh describes it as "beautiful",[2] and Morris calls it "haunting", drawing attention to the "deliberately archaic tone" and "ecstatic sensual" instrumentation.
The composer Mark DeVoto criticises the balance between the two instruments; he describes the theme of the Andante as "unbelievably trivial", and states that the accompaniment of the final movement "went out with César Franck".
[7] A review in Music & Letters finds influences from Bartók and praises the piece's "idiomatic" composition for the flute and piano, but criticises its "rhythmic monotony", describing it as "virtuously dissonant and unutterably boring".