DOHNÁNYI SERIES 22-23/5

The first part of today’s concert features Cello Concerto, a composition from 1982, one of the best-known works of Friedrich Gulda Austrian piano virtuoso and composer. Known for brilliantly defying convention, in this work, Gulda managed to reconcile the contrast between the noble and elegant cello voice and the often trivial military music. The solo will be played by the young Austrian cellist Lida Limmer.

The second part of the concert will start by the overture to a lesser-known operetta by Johann Strauss Jr. The main motif of the stage work Waldmeister (Woodruff) is a waltz theme that incorporates the inverted arpeggio of the first three notes of the famous Blue Danube Waltz. And although contemporary critics scoffed at this late work, Brahms expressed his admiration: Strauss’s magnificent orchestration reminded him of Mozart.

Few pieces in the classical orchestral repertoire are as mysterious as Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 7, in its latest numbering. On the one hand, it used to be commonly referred to as the Eighth Symphony, although it was written earlier than the “Great” Symphony in C major, traditionally numbered Seventh and now numbered Eighth. But the adjective ‘unfinished’ is also somewhat problematic, since many have argued over the last century and a half that Schubert never really intended to add further movements to the composition, having realised that he had said all he wanted to say in these two movements. What is certain, however, is that the composer had begun a third movement, the Scherzo of which he had sketched out in its entirety, and even the first bars of the Trio section have been preserved. However it happened, the existence of the work was soon forgotten, and the manuscript containing the two completed movements was only discovered in 1865 by Johann von Herbeck, a former friend of the composer.

The evening will be closed by our conductor Guido Mancusi conducting his own work, “Stil & Eleganz”, or Style and Elegance Waltz.

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Stravinsky wrote his dance piece The Firebird for Diaghilev’s ballet company. The script is based on a Russian fairy tale. In the kingdom of King Koschei, there is an evil sorcerer who holds princesses captive. The prince captures the firebird in a hunt and is about to kill her; she begs for her life, and he spares her. As a token of thanks, the firebird offers him an enchanted feather that he can use to summon her should he be in dire need. Under the cover of night, the captive princesses are dancing under the golden apple tree in the garden of Koschei when the prince catches sight of and falls instantly in love with one of them. The prince puts an end to Koschei’s reign with the help of the firebird. Thus the firebird becomes the bird of life triumphant over death.

The piece was a huge success at its première in Paris in 1910 and immediately brought worldwide fame to the young composer. Later on, Stravinsky composed an orchestral suite from the dance, which he reworked twice. The work is a good example of the influences that shaped Stravinsky’s style in his early period. In part, his orchestration technique follows that of brilliantly skilled master, Rimsky-Korsakov, in part it adopts the painterly and bold sounds of the French Impressionists, while the influence of Russian folk music can also be felt in it.

Levitas’s Remembering Benny Goodman is a true jazz concerto, written for two clarinets and symphony orchestra. The work features the Duo Gurfinkel, Daniel and Alexander Gurfinkel, who were only 12 years old when they were invited by Zubin Mehta to perform together with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, they have had much success performing with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra and the National Ukraine Symphony Orchestra, among others. The twins have strong musical roots in their family, as their grandfather is a renowned clarinettist, teacher and arranger, and their father is the first clarinettist of the Israel Symphony Orchestra.

Our concert will conclude with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. Written for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, in this Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), Dvořák uses elements of various types of music from the Americas, including traditional American and African-American music, blended with the musical heritage of his own country, creating a new, uniquely American symphonic style. The composer gave his piece the well-known title “From the New World” only after he had finished composing it. There is no doubt, however, that from the outset he consciously sought to give the composition a distinctly ‘American’ character. For example, in the large-scale sonata-like first movement, which begins with a slow introduction, there is a secondary theme which is a pentatonic melody. It is not a ‘folk song’, but it is one of the kind that Dvořák might have seen in music collections of his time, and perhaps even heard them on the street.

The conductor for the evening is Georgian composer and conductor Vakhtang Kakhidze, who studied composition and orchestration at the Moscow State Music University. He learned conducting from his world-famous father, Jansug Kakhidze. Since 1993, Vakhtang Kakhidze has been conductor of the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra.

DOHNÁNYI SERIES 22-23/3

Today’s concert will begin with Alabama March by our young composer Máté Balogh. Máté Balogh graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where he received his doctorate and has been working as an assistant professor since 2018. This year he was also awarded the Junior Prima Prize. Tonight’s work was commissioned by Gergely Vajda, principal conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the state of Alabama, and was written, by his own admission, in just two days. This is how the composer describes his piece: ‘The march is an existing musical form of movement, and that helped me a lot. The march has a traditional orchestral structure, which gave me a sense of safety. I used the usual soloistic melody forms of the genre, and some of the usual accompanying figures. In an earlier piece, Pseudomarsch, I used similar motifs. Although that piece was written for wind orchestra only, it was not chamber music, but rather I was thinking in terms of block-like sounds. In 2017, I won first prize in a composers’ competition with Pseudomarsch, since then it has been recorded and played several times by the Hungarian Radio, and in the meantime several wind orchestras have commissioned marches from me, so composing marches has become, funny to say, almost a trademark for me.’

The Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is one of the most popular concertos in music literature: it is a favourite at concerts and was recorded more than 50 times up to the end of the 20th century. It is certainly particularly popular with violinists because, although it makes great technical demands on the performer, each movement, each virtuoso element offers a rewarding experience, a “hand on” for the player, and a deep connection with the instrument – not coincidentally, since Sibelius was originally a violinist. It was as if he had composed all his love for the instrument, all his virtuoso dreams, into this work – his only concerto, in which the composer rewrites the 19th century virtuoso tradition of the genre in his own style. Although the soloist is at the centre of attention almost throughout the piece, the shaping and elaboration of the movements is as demanding as that of a symphony, and the long solo sections are occasionally replaced by significant tutti “outbursts”. At the same time, the sound of the work is often characterised by a special intimacy and chamber music-like quality: the orchestral instruments, especially the woodwinds, are often featured in pairs or small groups, and play an important role in characterising and controlling the musical process through gestures and specific effects. Tonight Barnabás Kelemen brings Sibelius’ masterpiece to life.

DOHNÁNYI SERIES 22-23/2 – THE FACES OF ROMANTICISM

Do you like Brahms? If so, you’ll enjoy this concert threefold, as you’ll hear a Brahms work and two works that, although written long after Brahms, in the 20th and 21st centuries, will stir the hearts of even the most committed fans of romanticism.

György Orbán’s Symphony No. 1, performed for the first time ever this evening, is a testimony to the composer’s thinking rooted in classical and romantic music. The very fact that he calls his work a symphony reflects his adherence to the classical tradition, as since the 20th century there have been fewer and fewer symphonies written. The musical structure of Orbán’s first symphony is even more simplified than his staple clear-cut musical articulation: the tonality of the piece is clear and the structure is classical. However, we can also recognize many gestures of the much talked about collective memory in the work, be it a dies irae melody or the turn of a Hungarian folk song. (Click here to read György Orbán’s thoughts on his work – in Hungarian.)

Shostakovich completed his Violin Concerto No. 1 in 1948 and dedicated it to the world-famous violinist David Oistrakh. For reasons of cultural policy, the work was not premièred until 1955 with Oistrakh as soloist. “As for the Violin Concerto…I am struck by the wonderful seriousness, the depth of creative thought and the truly symphonic mindset in it. There is nothing in the score of the Violin Concerto that is incidental, that is only for external effect, that is not justified by the internal logic of material development,” so wrote Oistrakh six months after the première, his words capturing the essence of the work very aptly. The piece is reminiscent of a symphony not only in its scope and complexity, but also in its four-movement structure. At the same time, the internal elaboration of the movements, the exciting polyphony and the orchestration of the work are also reminiscent of chamber music: the confrontation and ‘competition’ between the soloist and the orchestra unfolds not in the alternation of large blocks of the form, but often in the dialogue between one or two instruments and the soloist. The violin concerto solo at today’s concert will be played by Daniel Matejča, whom the audiences will know from the Virtuosos 2021 show. Despite his young age, he has won numerous international competitions (Telemann Competition, Concertino Prague Competition, etc.).

Our concert will conclude with Brahms‘ first orchestral work, Serenade No. 1. From 1857, Brahms was at the service of the Duchy of Detmold, famous for its flourishing musical life. During this period, Brahms also studied the legacy of the Viennese classicists, with a particular focus on Mozart and Haydn’s symphonies and divertimentos. This is the style revived by Serenade No. 1 in D major. Back in 1858, Brahms intended the piece as chamber music for nine string and wind instruments. It was also performed in this form at a concert in Detmold. The orchestral version was performed in Hannover in March 1860, conducted by Brahms’s friend, the world-famous Hungarian violinist József Joachim. The serenade, in six movements, bears the imprint not only of Haydn and Mozart, but also of Brahms’ more recent predecessors: Beethoven and Schubert. But beyond all this, it also displays several features that distinguish Brahms’ music from all others: particular melodic turns, orchestration and the heavy, complementary rhythms that are particularly characteristic of his works.

DOHNÁNYI SERIES – 22-23/1 – A MAGICAL EVENING

The BDO Day ends with a magical evening programme. For the concert, our orchestra’s principal guest conductor Guido Mancusi has selected works that are in some way connected to magic.

Based on a ballad by Goethe, in Dukas‘s symphonic poem the sorcerer’s little apprentice, in the absence of his master, enchants the broom to do his chores for him as an obedient servant. So far so good, but the spell is so successful that the broom takes on a life of its own, unleashing itself and becoming independent. The apprentice tries in vain to stop it with magic and force, and is finally forced to chop it to pieces with an axe. But then – like in a horror film – the broom pieces come to life one by one and continue their wild rampage. The master returns home just in the nick of time, and with a simple magic spell, puts an end to the mayhem.

Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre is very much like a real black mass. We hear the clock strike midnight, Satan appears, tunes up his violin and then begins a devilish dance that becomes more and more bloodcurdling, more and more captivating, and seems to go on unstoppably until the cock crows. Finally, as the dawn breaks, the devilish dance subsides.

The adventures of Till Eulenspiegel, the mischievous prankster of the bourgeoisie, are brought to life in Strauss’s symphonic poem, which faithfully follows our hero’s journey through his adventures up until his capture, conviction and then the gallows. The music faithfully follows his final jerks on the gallows, but the subsequent playing of the Till motif poses the question: was the hanging really successful?

There’s no magic without Harry Potter. John Williams’ music brings to life all the mysteries, magical creatures and mysterious past events of the wizarding world. A world we all wish we could make a little escape to, leaving behind our everyday lives.

BUDAFOK CONCERT NIGHTS -22-23/7

Haydn is a great master of Viennese Classicism, who left behind a rich oeuvre. Still very popular, his works are regularly performed in concerts in our day. Tonight, Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra will perform the overture to his perhaps lesser-known opera L’incontro improvviso. This work is the sixth of Haydn’s 13 operas, written in 1775 for the private theatre of the Eszterházy court. It is set in the Middle East and has an oriental theme. And although it is not one of his most successful works, its overture is very popular and has everything to make you love Haydn’s works.

Schubert left behind five unfinished symphonies, of which Symphony No.7 is the only one that was structurally complete, and for each movement Schubert prepared sketches and orchestrated the slow introduction to the work. He then set the work aside to write an opera, and ultimately never got back to it again. Over the centuries, many attempts have been made to make this symphony accessible to the public, and tonight the orchestra will play the version that was completed by Austrian composer Richard Dünser and conductor Mario Venzago. This version is also special because the less inspiring middle movement has been replaced by musical sketches by Schubert from the year of his death. The result is the grandiose work known as Symphony No. 7, which is being performed in this form for the first time in Hungary this evening.

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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.

BUDAFOK CONCERT NIGHTS – 22-23/5

Tonight’s first work to be performed is by Ernő Dohnányi, after whom our orchestra is named. Ernő Dohnányi was a dominant figure in Hungarian musical life for about three decades in the first half of the last century. He was a pianist, a composer, a conductor and a music teacher, professor and later director of the Liszt Academy of Music. First, the overture to his juvenile comedy opera entitled Tante Simona (Aunt Simona) will be played by the orchestra. The opera premièred in Dresden in 1912, and its performance continued to great acclaim on German stages in the following decade. The Hungarian première did not take place until 1933, but by then the public’s taste had turned to a different style, and the opera was soon out of the repertoire. The plot of the opera features Aunt Simona who lives alone in an old Italian villa with her niece and her caretaker. When she was young, Aunt Simona was abandoned at the altar by her fiancé, and since then she has hated men and kept them away from her villa. Thus, it is only in secret that her niece can meet and spend time with her lover, who pretends to be a mute gardener in Aunt Simona’s service. By the end of the opera, of course, Aunt Simona is no longer single, the runaway fiancé turns up, and the former lovers are reunited. This time only the overture will be performed, in which the musical influence of Wagner and Strauss can be felt. There are three themes running through the overture, which then recur in the fabric of the opera, one of which is linked to the old lovers, Aunt Simona and her fiancé, another motif is linked to the young couple, and the third is associated with the idea of desire.

It is well known that BDO regularly performs works by contemporary Hungarian composers in order to make contemporary music known and loved as widely as possible. Tonight’s concert features a work by Rezső Ott, whose Bassoon Concerto was played by the orchestra in the last season. Rezső Ott graduated from the Academy of Music with a degree in bassoon and later in composition. And although he graduated as a “classical musician”, pop music has been an integral part of his life since his youth; he even founded a rock band. Accordingly, in addition to composing, he often takes on orchestration tasks for well-known pop music groups and artists. His work as a classical musician and composer has also been recognised by several awards. This evening the composer’s Concerto No. 3B will be performed.

The final piece of the concert will be Dvořak‘s last ‘European’ symphony, Symphony No. 8. Dvořák composed this work in the span of two and a half months when he retired to his country house in the summer of 1889. He wrote the symphony on the occasion of his appointment to the Prague Academy and conducted it himself in Prague in 1890. The work was a great success and was later performed in Frankfurt, Cambridge and in other European cities. He wrote a serene symphony, reflecting the idyllic atmosphere of rural tranquillity, with lavish orchestration, a richly motivic score based on Czech folk music, and a captivating, joyful finale.

Tonight our orchestra is conducted by Oliver von Dohnányi, a member of the Dohnányi family. The conductor was born on 2 March 1955 in Trenčín, Slovakia. He studied violin and conducting at the Music Academy in Prague and in Vienna. He has been a finalist in numerous international conducting competitions, won the Italian Premio Respighi and in 2018 he was awarded the Golden Mask, the highest prize of the Russian National Theatre, in the category “Best Opera Conductor”.

He has made several recordings, conducted many opera productions and international tours. He has worked with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, as music director of the Slovak National Theatre and the National Theatre in Prague, and with many renowned ensembles in Europe, America and Asia. He is a regular guest conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Ekaterinburg Opera House, the New Zealand Opera House and the Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since the 2015/2016 season, Oliver von Dohnányi has been the Principal Conductor of the Ural Opera Ballet in Ekaterinburg.

BUDAFOKI HANGVERSENYESTÉK 22-23/4 ÚJÉVI KONCERT

Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra’s traditional New Year concert with lots of surprises and musical sparkles.

BUDAFOKI HANGVERSENYESTÉK 22-23/3

The evening opens with the overture to Austrian composer Emil von Reznicek‘s opera Donna Diana.

Reznicek’s not quite Austrian-sounding name is due to his Czech and Romanian ancestry, but he himself was born in Vienna in 1860 and studied music there and later in Leipzig. He left behind many works, including symphonies, piano and choral works, but he is best known for his opera entitled Donna Diana. Written in 1894, it was the fourth of his 14 operas. The libretto is an adaptation of a 17th-century Spanish comedy. The plot features a young lady, Donna Diana, who is courted by numerous suitors, including Don Cesar, who is rejected by her at every turn. But he never gives up, and by the end of the story, Donna Diana sees the error of her ways and accepts Don Cesar. The première was a great success and a way out of obscurity for Reznicek, but as time went on the piece was dropped from the repertoire of frequently performed operas. The overture, however, is still often performed in concert halls, and for good reason: it is true Viennese music with a touch of Spain, and its popularity is due to its fresh and cheerful atmosphere.

The second work of the evening is by the young Hungarian composer Ilona Dobszay-Meskó. Ilona Dobszay-Meskó is known in the music world not only as a composer but also as a conductor. She has won prizes as a composer and performer in several competitions. She is also a teacher, artistic director and conductor of Ventoscala Sinfonietta orchestra, which she founded in 2003. This year she received the Erkel Prize for her work as a composer. This will not be the first time that Dohnányi Orchestra plays a work by Ilona Dobszay-Meskó, as last year BDO performed her flute concerto entitled Concerto per flauto. Earlier, Dohnányi Orchestra interpreted her orchestral suite Eszmélet (“Wakefulness” – the tr.) and her fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Tonight’s performance will feature her trumpet concerto, composed in 2019, performed by trumpeter Balázs Winkler.

Brahms wrote a total of four symphonies, and tonight Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra is going to perform his last one. Completed in 1885, it is the only symphony Brahms wrote in a minor key, and also his darkest in tone. It was first performed in a two-piano version by the composer for a select group of friends and fans, and the reception didn’t bode very well. He received a lot of criticism, but this did not deter him from presenting an orchestral version of the work, conducted by himself. That performance, however, was a resounding success. The symphony has four movements, the first, Allegro non troppo, is based on two main melodies, a lyrical opening theme and a rhythmic second theme. The second movement, Andante moderato, also contrasts melodic and rhythmic material, the third, Allegro giocoso, is in fact a scherzo movement. Finally the last movement, Allegro energico e passionato, written in the form of a passacaglia or chaconne, brings the piece to a spectacular close.