Ürögi kanásztánc • Swineherd’s Dance. Allegro molto

Béla Bartók: Hungarian Pictures, Sz. 97, BB 103

For Hungarian Pictures, Bartók chose five movements from piano series he composed between 1908 and 1911, arranged them for orchestra and fused them into a new cycle. He completed the composition in 1931. He preserved the material of the original piano pieces, and also sought to keep the melodic element emphatic. An Evening in the Village and Bear Dance were first published in the Ten Easy Pieces, Melody came from Four Dirges, Slightly Tipsy from Three Burlesques, and the Swineherd’s Dance (the only arrangement of folk music in the cycle) was a part of For Children. The five pieces make for a series rich in contrasts, with two scherzo movements flanking a lament (the third movement), so it is easy to recognise in this arrangement the characteristic silhouette of Bartók’s much-loved bridge form.

Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2, BB 101

In February 1939, Bartók provided a short description of Piano Concerto No. 2 for the programme guide of a Lausanne concert, where he was the soloist and Ernest Ansermet was the conductor: “I wrote my first piano concerto in 1926. I consider it a successful work, though its structure is slightly – or perhaps, fairly – difficult, both for the orchestra and the audience. This was why a few years later, in 1930–31, I wanted to offer a pendant with Piano Concerto No. 2, with less challenge for the orchestra, and more attractive thematic material. This intention accounts for the more popular and lighter character of most themes in the piece. Sometimes its lightness may even bring in mind some of my youthful works.” This last assertion may have served to allay the fears his contemporary audience may have held about modern works, and as for the difficulty of the piano solo, Bartók understates the case here too: the solo material is perhaps even more demanding than that of Piano Concerto No. 1. The concerto has a very unique orchestration: the orchestra of the first movement comprises winds and percussion; the Adagio has strings and timpani; the scherzo, which is like an intermezzo, is played on strings and a group of winds and percussion, and only the third movement avails itself of the full orchestra.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (“Eroica”) The Eroica Symphony is a key piece not only of Beethoven’s œuvre, but for the musical thinking of the 19th century as well, instituting an essential definition of what is musical structure and logic, what is the work of the composer, and what it means to think in music – notions that continue to hold strongly. “When I was young,” Bartók said in 1927, “my ideal of beauty was not so much the style of Bach or Mozart as that of Beethoven.” In an interview he gave to Dezső Kosztolányi two years earlier, he said “I still enjoy the Eroica as much as I used to.” According to one of the most loved anecdotes of musical history – which also happens to be true – Beethoven angrily scratched out Napoleon’s name from the title page of the manuscript of the Eroica when the republican consul turned into a royalist. In his Beethoven monograph (2009), Jan Caeyers adds that in 1803–1804 the composer seriously considered leaving Vienna for Paris. The title idea for the symphony (Bonaparte) may therefore have been related to his plans of a career in France. The piece, which was honed through much experimentation and, unusually for the time, a large number of orchestral rehearsals, marked a major turning point in the history of the genre. In 1805, the year of its premiere, the critics were right to think that the composer of the Eroica was incapable of restraining his bizarre ideas. A review in the Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung in Leipzig hit the nail on the head: “This long, difficult-to-perform composition is in fact an extremely extensive, daring and wild fantasia.” We would still agree – it is another matter that that is exactly the quality we value so highly.

Dénes Várjon

His perfect technique, deep musicianship and open-mindedness have made Dénes Várjon one of the most exciting and most widely recognized figures in international musical life. A truly universal artist, he is an accomplished soloist, a first-class chamber musician, the artistic director of festivals, and an acknowledged educator. He is considered one of the greatest chamber musicians, who regularly collaborates with such partners as Tabea Zimmermann, Kim Kashkashian, Jörg Widmann, Leonidas Kavakos, András Schiff, Heinz Holliger, Miklós Perényi and Joshua Bell. As a soloist, he frequently performs at the great concert series of such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Viennese Konzerthaus or the London Wigmore Hall, and he is the featured guest performer of the world’s leading orchestras, including the

Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. György Solti, Sándor Végh, Iván Fischer, Ádám Fischer, Heinz Holliger, Horst Stein, Leopold Hager and Zoltán Kocsis were some of the conductors he has partnered with. He regularly participates at such major international festivals as those of Marlboro, Salzburg and Edinburgh. His work has been recognised with the Liszt, Veress Sándor and Bartók-Pásztory Prizes, and in 2020 with the Kossuth Prize.

Photo: Misi Kondella / Liszt Academy

DÉNES VÁRJON

András Keller

András Keller is a Kossuth Prize laureate violinist and conductor, the founder of the Keller Quartet. He studied with the greatest masters, and the school of Weiner, Kurtág and Rados is identical for him with the most essential music. He became music director of Concerto Budapest in 2007, and the ensemble has since become one of Hungary’s leading symphony orchestras, known for its passionate and joyful performances. András Keller holds masterclasses all over the world, including at such places as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Yale University, the McGill University of Montreal, the London Royal Academy of Music and the Accademia Fiesole in Florence. He has been one of the principal instructors of the world-famous IMS master school and the Festival d’Aix en Provence Academy for over ten years. He held masterclasses at the music academies of Basel, Berlin, Hannover and Lübeck, and at the Verbier Festival. He is currently professor of violin at the world-class London Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Concerto Budapest

One of Hungary’s leading symphonic orchestras boasts a historic past and the dynamism of young musicians. With ambitious and innovative programmes, and an individual sound, it added a fresh touch to the Hungarian musical scene. Over the recent years they have been invited to numerous international festivals, acclaimed concert halls in Europe, America and East Asia. Concerto Budapest has such world-famous artists for returning guests as Gidon Kremer, Boris Berezovsky, Heinz Holliger, Isabelle Faust, Mikhail Pletnev, and Evgeni Koroliov. Their repertoire of classical works is made even more varied with contemporary compositions, and events for children and young people.

A címlapon: Várjon Dénes és Keller András Címlapfotó: Benkő Sándor