HAYDN: Nelson Mass
GYÖRGY ORBÁN: Ricercare
Zita Szemere – soprano
Kornélia Bakos – mezzo-soprano
Tibor Szappanos – tenor
Marcell Bakonyi – baritone
László Lisztes – narrator
Hungarian National Choir (choir master: Csaba Somos)
Angelica Girls' Choir (choir master: Zsuzsanna Gráf)
Hungarian National Philharmonic
Conductor: Csaba Somos
Hymns of Praise
The two oratorio works on this exciting programme were composed some 200 years apart: one of the most magnificent masses ever written in the classical Viennese style, followed by a piece of music from a popular Hungarian contemporary choral composer. After Haydn's "Missa in Angustiis" (Mass for Troubled Times), which only later gained the title of Nelson Mass in tribute to the English admiral, we will enjoy a composition written in 2009 at the behest of Csaba Somogy. Ricercare is a personal interpretation of a well-known Biblical text, an extract from St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, which is also immortalised in St Paul's Hymn to Love. As its creator György Orbán puts it, through experimentation and reading he found a "marriage of fugues" at the centre of the piece. This is why the Kossuth prize-winning composer chose a title that references not only the early Baroque fugues, but also the idea of searching inherent in the Italian word 'ricercare'. Alongside great soloists and the Hungarian National Choir, the concert will also feature the world-famous Angelica Girls' Choir, led by Zsuzsanna Gráf.
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