In the first half of the concert, Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra will play the only symphonic work by French composer Poulenc, Sinfonietta. Poulenc was one of the most popular French composers and pianists of the second half of the 20th century, and he wrote in almost every major genre: he composed songs, chamber music, oratorios, operas, ballets and orchestral works. He composed Sinfonietta in 1947 and premièred it a year later in London. The diminutive title – “little symphony” – suggests that the composer was more concerned with the various musical characters and instrumentation than with the symphonic structure itself. From light melodies filled with dance rhythms, through lyrical tones, to impulsive, dynamic passages, we encounter a wide range of musical characters, and perhaps this is what grants the work an easy reception.
The second half of the concert will feature György Orbán‘s Missa Decima – Mass Number Ten. This is what the composer, turning 75 this year, says about his work:
‘Writing the mass is quite a challenge for me, given that I am a protestant who belongs to the Calvinist denomination. At the same time, I believe in the wisdom and purposefulness of the composer’s vocation. A Hungarian composer working in any era will take on the task of trying out this long-established concert hall genre and adding his own ideas to it. Mass No. 10 was composed in the mid-1990s, and in its requirements and shaping, in its larger proportions it almost took on the dimensions of a Missa Solemnis. Some of my masses can be performed by amateur school choirs, this is not one of them. This mass was undoubtedly written in a festive mood. The traditional 6 movements (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei) are kept, and they are not broken down into further movements. The overall sound is traditional (to write music for a large orchestra and choir is only possible in compliance with the laws of physics and the capabilities dictated by biology). Thus, once again, a clear, traditionally toned music has been created. It is also true that at this time, I already had the many centuries-old techniques on my mind, in order to incorporate the musical tradition of the community (chorale, folk tunes, folk song) into my music. This has been a keen interest of European composers since the 1400s. It is important to note that the intonations that occur and are recognisable in Mass No. 10 (folk songs, fragments recalling traditional magic chants) are private matters for the composer, and the explicit product of his own liturgical interpretation of the text. The same melody represents the lines of Homo factus and Resurrexit.’
Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra will be conducted by Gábor Werner throughout the evening.
