HUNGARIAN GEMS - Kodály, Weiner, Dubrovay

KODÁLY Dances from Marosszék

WEINER Violin Concerto No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 45

– intermission –

DUBROVAY: Faust, the Damned – Suite No. 1

KODÁLY Háry János Suite

Performers

Savitri Grier violin

Conductor Tamás Vásáry

Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra

The programme begins and ends with two of the most popular orchestral numbers in the oeuvre of Zoltán Kodály. Conductor for the evening is Tamás Vásáry, student and protégé of the great composer, not to mention perhaps the most dedicated devotee of the memory of Kodály. As well as Dances of Marosszék and the Háry János Suite, the audience is promised another two experiential discoveries from the middle and late 20th century. Just three years before his death, in 1957 Leó Weiner restructured his Violin Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor written 40 years earlier into a concerto for violin. Soloist of the last completed Weiner work is the young British artist Savitri Grier, celebrated globally as a chamber musician. László Dubrovay completed his ballet Faust, the Damned in 1995, although its premiere was only arranged at the Budapest Spring Festival in 2016: the suite performed at this concert was compiled from movements of this major work by the composer himself.