The overture to the Czech composer Smetana’s The Bartered Bride is a rich font of energy, emotion and folk characters, while Tchaikovsky’s
Piano Concerto in B-flat minor is an encounter of virtuosity with great feeling, and Pictures at an Exhibition is also a meeting point, this time between the Russian Mussorgsky and the Frenchman Ravel, the result of which was one of the most brilliantly arranged scores in music
history. Valentin Magyar is the audience’s latest great favourite and it will be exciting to hear Carlo Montanaro, who frequently conducts masterpieces from Italian masters, interpreting a different kind of repertoire on this occasion.
Bedřich Smetana, the forerunner to Dvořák and the great trailblazer of Czech national music, wrote his three-act comic opera, The Bartered Bride, between 1863 and 1866. The work’s overture often appears on the concert programmes of the world’s great orchestras as an independent concert piece in its own right. Its main features are its sweeping dynamism, lively rhythms and folk-like quality of the characters. The Kocsis season ticket of the Hungarian National Philharmonic is conducted by Carlo Montanaro, a hugely popular figure
in Budapest.
The second piece on the programme, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto in B-flat minor, is an excellent opportunity for one of Hungary’s great piano discoveries of recent years, Valentin Magyar, to show off the virtuosity and emotional richness of his playing style. The firm favourite that will complete the second part of the concert is Mussorgsky’s piano cycle, Pictures at an Exhibition, expertly arranged for orchestra by Ravel. The piece is a joyful reward for any orchestra or conductor and gives equal scope for a broad spectrum of colour to be revealed as it does for varied character depictions. If there is a composition that can without exaggeration be described as a “musical picture book”, this is it!
Bedřich SMETANA: The Bartered Bride – overture
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
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Modest MUSSORGSKY – Maurice RAVEL: Pictures at an Exhibition
Valentin Magyar piano
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Carlo Montanaro
Approx. until: 9.30 pm
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