Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer – overture
Wagner: Tannhäuser – overture
Wagner: Lohengrin – prelude to Act 1
Wagner: Lohengrin – prelude to Act 3 and Wedding March

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Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – prelude and Isolde’s Liebestod
Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – overture
Wagner: Götterdämmerung – Funeral March
Wagner: Die Walküre – Ride of the Valkyries

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Ádám Fischer

Best of Wagner? Any fan of the great German opera composer would be able to list a plethora of vocal numbers from his oeuvre that can be performed independently of the dramatic process, but these are mainly found in the early Romantic operas. At the same time, there exist throughout the entire body of work orchestral numbers that remain impressively and irresistibly charming even after the hundredth listening. Ádám Fischer, the artistic director of the Budapest Wagner Days festival, will be conducting an assortment of these at the helm of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Eight passages – from seven works. Each orchestral piece with its own mood. Every one of them is able to evoke the atmosphere of the entire work it is drawn from. Listening to the overture to Der fliegende Holländer, one is captivated by the mysteriousness of the legend and the raging primal element that is the sea in all of its power, while in the opening music of Tannhäuser we experience the struggle between earthly and heavenly love, and the excerpts from Lohengrin radiate the noble purity and elemental joy surrounding the mysterious Grail Knight, with the Wedding March perhaps the most widely known music that Wagner ever wrote. The two famous and connected orchestral segments from Tristan impact us with the glow of passion, and the overture from Meistersinger worthily conveys the proud demeanour of the citizens of a medieval German town. The Funeral March from Götterdämmerung is one of the most dramatic passages of death music ever written, and the closing number, The Ride of the Valkyries, condenses the determination and energy that only mythical creatures can possess. Anyone who has been to the Budapest Wagner Days festival to witness one of the complete opera productions knows that Ádám Fischer’s stylistic mastery and dedication both guarantee an experience of a high level. His partners in the one-hundred-year-old Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra are excellent musicians capable of meeting the standards any conductor sets for them.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest