Liszt: Via crucis –
The 14 Stations of the Cross
22 OCTOBER, 2024 | 7PM
Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule
Liszt: Via crucis –The 14 Stations of the Cross
Vexilla regis – hymn / Arranged by Kornél Fekete-Kovács
Station 1: Jésus est condamné à mort (Jesus is Condemned to Death) / Paraphrased and arranged by Dániel Szabó
Station 2: Jésus est chargé de la Croix (Jesus Bearing His Cross) / Paraphrased and arranged by János Ávéd
Station 3: Jésus tombe pour la première fois (Jesus is Stumbling for the First Time) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kristóf Bacsó
Station 4: Jésus rencontre sa très sainte Mère (Jesus Meeting his Holy Mother) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kornél Fekete-Kovács
Station 5: Simon le Cyrénéen aide Jésus à porter sa Croix (Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to Bear the Cross) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kornél Fekete-Kovács
Station 6: Sancta Veronica (Saint Veronica) / Paraphrased and arranged by Dániel Hofecker
Station 7: Jésus tombe pour la seconde fois (Jesus is Stumbling for the Second Time) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kristóf Bacsó
Station 8: Les femmes de Jérusalem (The Women of Jerusalem) / Paraphrased and arranged by Dániel Hofecker
Station 9: Jésus tombe une troisième fois (Jesus is Stumbling for the Third Time) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kristóf Bacsó
Station 10: Jésus est dépouillé des ses vêtements (Jesus Gets Stripped)
Station 11: Jésus est attaché à la Croix (Jesus is Crucified) / Paraphrased and arranged by Gábor Subicz
Station 12: Eli, Eli! lamma sabacthani! (Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me, O Lord? – Jesus is Dying on the Cross) / Paraphrased and arranged by Gábor Cseke and Attila Korb
Station 13: Jésus est déposé de la Croix (Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross) / Paraphrased and arranged by János Ávéd
Station 14: Ave Crux, spes unica... (Jesus is Laid in a Sepulchre) / Paraphrased and arranged by Kornél Fekete-Kovács
Featuring: Lilla HORTI, Krisztina POCSAI – voice, János ÁVÉD – tenor saxophone, Attila DANKOS – organ, László FASSANG – Hammond organ, Modern Art Orchestra
Conductor: Kornél FEKETE-KOVÁCS
Via crucis is one of the most exciting and most curious pieces Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886) wrote in his late period. He completed it in 1879, and its libretto was compiled from Latin hymns and two German Evangelical chorales, by his common-law wife, Carolyne Wittgenstein. Whether one considers the harmonic inventions, the dramaturgy or the ‘ideology’ of Liszt’s distinctive Passions, there can be little doubt this was the most progressive musical idiom of its time. Very concise and requiring few performers, the composition was clearly made with a view to liturgical use. Nonetheless, it was not performed or published in Liszt’s own lifetime. In a 1885 letter to Carolyne Wittgenstein, he bitterly reported that a publisher refused it on the grounds it was far too secular, whereas Liszt was convinced the real reason was they thought it lacked marketability. It came out in print fifty years after Liszt’s death, shortly after it was first performed under the baton of Artúr Harmat.
Says Kornél Fekete-Kovács of the expanded version performed at today’s concert, by artists with different backgrounds: ‘The piece must retain its simplicity and subtlety. We wrote new compositions to connect the original 14+1 movements, and there are passages that may give rise to new segments.’
Archaization – the use of Gregorian melodies and a harmonic vocabulary characteristic of the polyphonic modal music of the 15th and 16th centuries – was not restricted to Liszt’s late works, and had already marked some of his liturgical music in the middle period. However, writes János Mátyás, ‘the inspiration becomes manifest more organically and comprehensively in the late period, especially in the motets and antiphons he wrote after 1875: not only in his adoption of melodies and motifs, or the linkage of chords, but also in the tone and spirit of the works. The compositions became considerably shorter, the mode of expression and form more poised, sometimes even extremely terse, apparently simpler, like the structure; the effusive grandiloquence and fastidious, often naturalistic painterliness gave way to a mood that is more abstract and generous, content to make do with symbolic references.’
The Modern Art Orchestra (MAO), an ensemble that doubles as a community for the study and creation of contemporary music, has presented over twenty-five hours of new compositions. More than a figure, this number, which it is safe to call record-breaking, is a vivid illustration of the outstanding creative and inspirational work of the ensemble. This deeply felt performance of Liszt’s work, which has been recast in their own image, follows up on their adaptations of works by Bartók or Kodály, and Péter Eötvös as well. The movements of Via crucis, which was commissioned by the Liszt Fest, correspond to the Stations of the Cross, and were arranged by six of the orchestra’s soloists, as well as by two multi-award-winning composer-performers, Dániel Hofecker and Dániel Szabó, who work closely with the MAO.
Krisztina Pocsai
She first studied the classical piano and graduated as a jazz singer from the Jazz Programme of the Liszt Academy in 1998. She is a vocalist on numerous records of Hungarian pop music, and as a composer and vocalist, she contributed to three albums of pop and funky. Her 2004 record of ballads features such heavyweights of Hungarian jazz as Béla Szakcsi Lakatos and Rudolf Tomsits. She was the composer and singer of her 2011 album, Home at Last. Her songs are centred around passing moods, as well as emotions and thoughts that marked certain periods of her life. Alongside her own quintet, she also performs in various duos.
Lilla Horti
Lilla Horti is a Junior Prima and Cziffra Prize-winning opera singer, who graduated from the Liszt Academy in Budapest as a student of Éva Marton. She sang her first leading role, Mimi from La bohème, at the Hungarian State Opera in 2017. She is also very active as a concert singer, performing at countless lied recitals, aria nights and opera galas, singing solos in oratorios. She has been recognised with numerous prizes and special awards in national and international competitions. Her main roles include Fiordiligi, Nedda and Bess. She has also performed in Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and France.
László Fassang
One of the most versatile organists of his generation, he is an improviser with exceptional abilities. Classical and contemporary experimental works play equally important roles in his world of music. In addition to the classical organ, he also performs regularly on piano, Hammond organ and various electronic instruments. He is a graduate of the Liszt Academy and the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP). His notable competition wins include the Grand Prix for Improvisation of the Calgary International Organ Competition (2002), as well as the First Prize and Audience Award of the Grand Prix de Chartres (2004). Between 2004 and 2008, he taught improvisation at the Musikene (San Sebastian), and from 2008 to 2024, organ at the Liszt Academy. He is currently organist-in-residence at Müpa Budapest and professor of improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire. In 2022, he was the co-founder, with Juli Kepes, of the Make Music Freely movement, as a part of which he holds workshops and lectures. His work has been recognized with the Liszt Prize and the Prima Prize in 2006, the Gramophone Award in 2013, and the Artist of Merit award in 2016.
Attila Dankos
The organist and educator was born in Zalaegerszeg. He studied music in Szombathely, Debrecen and Detmold, Germany. He took the courses of Zsigmond Szathmáry, Miklós Spányi and Ton Koopman, and he regularly performs at the Bach For All Festival. Since February 2023, he has been the music director and organist of St Michael’s Cathedral in Veszprém. ‘Besides teaching and church service, I find it very important to give concerts regularly. This is closely linked to the role of improvisation. The freedom offered by improvisation also gives the artist the opportunity for self-expression, so I particularly like to employ it in my concerts,’ he writes about himself.
Kornél Fekete-Kovács
The Artisjus, Liszt Ferenc and Fonogram award-winning jazz musician is a bandleader, teacher and composer. He started to study the violin, before switching to the trumpet. He has played in several formations, and regularly works with leading figures of the Hungarian jazz and popular music scene, as well as international stars such as Dave Liebman, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Lionel Lueke and Wallace Roney. He is also a frequent participant in symphonic projects, and has performed with the Pannon Philharmonic, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Danubia Orchestra and the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is recognized across Europe not only as an instrumental soloist, but as a composer and arranger as well. He has been a member of the Studium Dixieland Band (1989–1992), the Fortinbrass Quintet (1990–1992), Brass Age (1992–1994), the Oláh Kálmán Sextet (1993–1998) and the Blacksmith Workshop (1999–2002). A founder of the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, he was its artistic director and soloist between 1998 and 2005. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Dés László Septet, Eszter Horgas’s Class Jazz Band, and the band, Emil.Rulez. He has been the leader of the Modern Art Orchestra since October 2005. In February 2006 he founded his own band, the Fekete-Kovács Kornél Quartet. He has been teaching at the Liszt Academy since 1995, and at the Kőbánya Music Studio since 1998.
ATTILA DANKOS
Modern Art Orchestra
Founded by trumpeter, composer and artistic director Kornél FeketeKovács and his fellow musicians seventeen years ago, the MAO is a creative community with its own repertoire, which is refreshed practically from one concert to the next. The artists of this internationally renowned company approach music with a trans-generic perspective. At the heart of their masterful performance and their own compositions is creativity, the free expression of musical thought. They regularly perform at the Budapest Music Center, they have toured Europe, the United States, Israel and Russia, and have played with such legendary artists as Tom Harrell, David Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Rhoda Scott, Adam Nussbaum and Ennio Morricone. During last years they dedicated a series to the new compositions of Péter Szendőfi, Szabolcs Oláh, Samu Gryllus, Árpád Tzumo, Balázs Neumann and Kornél Fekete-Kovács. Along with the cooperation efforts, for its own repertoire the MAO relies on being a creative community. Six of the members – János Ávéd, Kristóf Bacsó, Gábor Cseke, Kornél Fekete-Kovács, Attila Korb and Gábor Subicz – keep writing and arranging pieces for the vibrant artistic activity of the Orchestra.
MODERN ART ORCHESTRA
A free publication of the Liszt Fest International Cultural Festival
Published by Müpa Budapest Nonprofit Ltd. KÁEL Csaba, CEO
On the cover: The Calvary of the St László Parish Church on Istenhegy
Editor: Szabolcs MOLNÁR English translation: Árpád MIHÁLY
The organizers reserve the right to make changes.