Claude DEBUSSY: L’Après-midi d’un Faune, L. 86
Camille SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
***
Camille SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony No. 3 in C minor (“Organ Symphony”), Op. 78

Aurélien Pascal cello
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Jean-Claude Casadesus

A French evening in the spirit of refinement, colours, moods – and pathos. The Debussy work, L’Après-midi d’un Faune, heralds the birth of impressionism and the two Saint-Saëns compositions, the Cello Concerto in A minor and the hugely popular Organ Symphony, represent romanticism – the latter of which is heavily influenced by Liszt. It is not just the composers who are French: so are the conductor and the soloist. On the podium for the third evening of the Kocsis season ticket is the 90-year-old Jean-Claude Casadesus, one of the doyens of the international community of conductors, while the soloist of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra is Aurélien Pascal, who is still considered a young virtuoso of the cello despite his considerable international success.

The Casadesus family is a hugely important dynasty of French musicians that has gifted European musical culture with a number of outstanding performers and composers. Boasting a remarkably rich repertoire, Jean-Claude Casadesus (1935) is without doubt one of the most experienced members of the international community of conductors. He will be aged 90 when he conducts the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra for the third evening of the Kocsis season ticket. In the course-, of his work, he has always dedicated a great deal of attention to the music of his homeland, so it should come as no surprise that we will hear French works on this occasion, too.

The first item on the programme is Debussy’s symphonic prelude L’Après-midi d’un Faune, which, although written during Brahms’s lifetime in 1894, is one of the first striking examples of music’s modern age. It is worth noting that Saint-Saëns’s famous Organ Symphony, a romantic work to its core, was composed just eight years previously. The concerto to be heard between the two symphonic opuses is the Cello Concerto in A minor, also penned by the composer of Samson and Delilah. The work may be less popular than the two orchestral pieces, but it is a respected fixture on the cello repertoire. Its performer, a compatriot of the conductor, is the 30-year-old Aurélien Pascal, who has scored notable successes in international competitions in recent years.

*****

The concerts on the Kocsis season ticket mainly feature 19th-century masterpieces, with a primary focus on the musical literature of the Romantic movement. Each night will feature a different large-scale, representative work: Ravel’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s cycle Pictures at an Exhibition, the Richard Strauss symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben, Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony, the Rossini Stabat Mater, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3.

Adding yet more colour to the overall picture will be such compositions as Smetana’s Bartered Bride Overture, the Liszt symphonic poem Orpheus, and Bizet’s L’Arlésienne Suite No. 1. The selection of concertos for this subscription includes both greatest hits (Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor) and some treasures deserving wider attention (the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor and his Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor). However, these evenings are not restricted to Romanticism or even the 19th century: we will also get to hear Debussy’s symphonic prelude L’Après-midi d’un Faune, as well as some Mozart, in the form of his Kyrie in D minor and the instrumental suite compiled from his opera Thamos, König in Ägypten.

As for the soloists: Valentin Magyar and József Balog are both local favourites when it comes to Hungarian pianists, and the voices of Selene Zanetti, Francesco Demuro, Atala Schöck and Gábor Bretz are always a delight to listen to. Also on the schedule are the world-famous French cellist Aurélien Pasca and the celebrated Russian piano virtuoso Alexander Malofeev, along with a host of international star conductors: Carlo Montanaro, Lawrence Foster, Jean-Claude Casadesus and Pier Giorgio Morandi. Taking up the baton for the final concert will be the ensemble’s general music director, György Vashegyi.