Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Kyrie in D minor, K. 341
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Instrumental excepts from the incidental music to Thamos, König in Ägypten (Thamos, King in Egypt), K. 345/336A
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Gioachino ROSSINI: Stabat Mater

Selene Zanetti soprano
Atala Schöck alto
Francesco Demuro tenor
Gábor Bretz bass

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)

Conductor: Pier Giorgio Morandi

Mozart’s Kyrie in D minor is a rarity, as is the incidental music to Thamos, King in Egypt, from which the Hungarian National Philharmonic will perform the instrumental suite on the fourth evening of its Kocsis season ticket. Thamos is noteworthy in that its Freemasonry-related theme means it can be considered a forerunner to The Magic Flute. Rossini’s Stabat Mater, one of the composer’s later works, is no average composition either as it is set apart as a religious work in an oeuvre generally made up of comic operas. The conductor for this concert, Pier Giorgio Morandi, has a deep knowledge of the Italian repertoire, while the Italian-Hungarian singing quartet comprises nothing but outstanding artists in Selene Zanetti, Francesco Demuro, Atala Schöck and Gábor Bretz.

The Austrian playwright Tobias Philipp von Gebler, a Freemason, commissioned Mozart to compose incidental music to his five-act play entitled Thamos King in Egypt, which he planned to stage in Vienna in April 1774.  The composer, who was not yet a Freemason at this time, did later enter the secret society and wrote choruses and entr’acte music for the play. The work is also interesting in that the use of Masonic motifs makes it a forerunner to the composer’s later singspiel, The Magic Flute, which also revolves around the symbolism of the Freemasons.

At the fourth concert of the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s Kocsis season ticket, we will hear the instrumental suite created from the incidental music, which will be preceded by a similarly little-known Mozart work, the Kyrie in D minor. The second part of the concert also has something special to offer: Rossini’s Stabat Mater is the work of a composer who achieved great success for his comic operas during much of his career, yet his later opus took on a liturgical theme. His composition bears the operatic hallmarks of a composer at home in the world of musical theatre. Pier Giorgio Morandi became a successful conductor after serving as the oboist of La Scala in Milan. His main area of expertise is Italian opera. Of the Italian-Hungarian singing cast, the green, white and red tricolor is represented by Selene Zanetti and Francesco Demuro, with Atala Schöck and Gábor Bretz flying the red, white and green flag.

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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.