Programme:

László Dubrovay: Hunt Symphony (Symphony No. 7) – world première
Handel: Water Music (Suite No. 2 in D major), HWV 349 – fourth movement (Lentement)
Handel: Water Music (Suite No. 1 in F major), HWV 348 – third movement (Allegro)
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in G minor (“Summer”), RV 315, Op. 8, No. 2
Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie – “A la chasse”
Haydn: The Seasons, Hob. XXI:3 – I/2 (Spring Chorus); III/31 (Wine Harvest Chorus)
Weber: Der Freischütz – Hunters’ Chorus
Smetana: Vltava
Wagner: Die Walküre – The Ride of the Valkyries
Suppé: Light Cavalry – overture
J. Strauss: On the Hunt – polka, Op. 373
Kodály: Háry János – “Oh, how many fish”
Liszt: Waldesrauschen (Forest Murmurs) – concert etude
Péter Eötvös: Dances of the Brush-footed Butterfly
J. Strauss: The Blue Danube (waltz)

Conductor: Róbert Farkas

Featuring:

János Balázs – piano
Júlia Pusker – violin
László Szvétek – bass

Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

From the very beginning: music has evoked countless natural phenomena: even in prehistoric caves, people would drum and sing of the magical experience of taking down prey. In honour of Hunting and Nature Worlds Exhibition, for this night we will be hearing only music – instrumental and vocal, orchestral and solo, and ranging in origin from Rameau to Péter Eötvös – that deals with wildlife and hunting, with the elements and seasons, and with the relationship between animals and mankind. A way to say, in the language of music, “We are one with nature.”

Who would have thought how many kinds of music evoke nature and its constantly shifting faces across the changing seasons, and with it the animal world, which has been connected to humankind since the beginning. We’ll get to hear some new music represented by László Dubrovay’s Hunt Symphony and Péter Eötvös’s Dances of the Brush-footed Butterfly, as well as plenty of older works written by composers ranging from Rameau, Vivaldi and Handel to Haydn, Wagner and Johann Strauss. We will come face to face with both the cheerful and grim sides of nature, hear the Hunters’ Chorus and Forest Murmurs, imagine the Valkyries riding before our eyes and how the Water Music sounded when it was played on the River Thames. We will also be able to feel the passion of Vivaldi’s Summer and the fresh breath of Haydn’s Spring, take a jaunt around the Vltava together, marvel at the beauty of the Blue Danube and proudly declare “Oh, how many fish there are in the great Balaton!” The evening will be varied in terms of genre as well: we will hear works for solo piano (with János Balázs playing Liszt and Eötvös), solo violin (Júlia Pusker’s Vivaldi), and a mighty bass (László Szvétek singing Kodály), with Róbert Farkas conducting the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Csaba Somos directing the Hungarian National Choir. Tonight, these works and performers offer a cavalcade that is just as colourful and rich as nature and the animal world are.