HUNGARIAN GEMS - Liszt, Bartók, Szokolay, Faragó

SÁNDOR SZOKOLAY Violin Concerto, Op. 15

BARTÓK Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra, BB 94b

– intermission –

BÉLA FARAGÓ Farewell to Várad - Cantata on Janus Pannonius´ Poems

LISZT: Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Performers

Miranda Liu violin, Zita Váradi soprano,  Judit Németh mezzo-soprano, László Jekl bass, Andor Lukáts actor, Saint Ephraim Choir (artistic director: Tamás Bubnó)

Conductor Zoltán Rácz

Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra

 

This programme hallmarked by the name of Zoltán Rácz spans the ages from the middle of the 19th century to 1990. The first work is a diploma piece: Sándor Szokolay graduated in 1957 with his Violin Concerto. Soloist of the concerto representing the closure of Szokolay’s first compositional phase is the multiple award-winning concertmaster of Concerto Budapest, Miranda Liu. The next work evokes the memory of József Szigeti, a great Hungarian violinist from the last century, because Bartók dedicated his Rhapsody No. 1 to Szigeti. Dance melodies collected in Torda and Temes are discernible in the material. After the Janus Pannonius cantata written by Béla Faragó 30 years ago, the Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Ferenc Liszt once again outlines the figure of a violinist. True, this demon fiddler will be the devil incarnate because the Faust of Nikolaus Lenau, who is spurring on the imagination of the composer, is about to seduce the young innocent girl when he appears in the form of the devilish violinist and with the collaboration of Mephisto.