Tag Archives: Richard Wagner

Songs for Alabama/ Dalok Alabamához

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The amazing Susanna Phillips
http://www.susannaphillips.com
gave the US premiere of my orchestral song ‘The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes’ on Saturday with the Huntsville Symphony. My piece, just like when it was performed for the very first time in Budapest, preceded Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. We had a big and responsive audience at the Von Braun Center. In the first half of the concert Principal Bassoonist of the Rochester Philharmonic, Matthew McDonald played Weber’s Bassoon Concerto. Our last classical concert of the season was part of the Alabama Bicentennial Celebration, and we were happy to team up with Susanna and Matthew, co-artistic directors of Twickenham Fest, and musicians extraordinaire.
http://www.twickenhamfest.org

Sunday and Monday were dedicated to auditions. I am happy to report, that we have a new Principal Bassoonist, a new Second Trombone player, and three new violinist colleagues as well. I am looking forward to making music with old and new members of the HSO alike, since the Bicentennial Celebration continues into our next season and includes out first two classical concerts. Check out the fall program, and HSO’s complete 2019-2020 season here:
http://www.hso.org

Soon I will be on my way back to Budapest to start rehearsing for the revival of my Puppet-Opera, The Giant Baby, and also to get ready for two La Bohème performances at the Budapest Opera. Stay tuned for more!

Susanna Phillips, http://www.susannaphillips.com
a Metropolitan Opera sztárja, és a Huntsville közeli Twickenham Fest egyik művészeti vezetője volt az HSO szombati koncertje második felének szólistája. ‘The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes’ című zenekari dalom amerikai bemutatója, a pár évvel ezelőtti budapesti ősbemutatóhoz hasonlóan, Richard Strauss Négy utolsó éneke előtt hangzott fel, amelyet aztán Richard Wagner A bolygó hollandi nyitánya követett. A hangverseny első felében a Rochester Filharmonikusok első fagottosa, a Susanna Phillipshez hasonlóan huntsville-i születésű, Matthew McDonald, aki a Twickenham Fest
http://www.twickenhamfest.org
társ-művészeti vezetője is, adta elő Weber Fagottversenyét. A koncert első fele Weber Freischütz nyitányával indult, és a Berlioz által hangszerelt Felhívás keringőre című művével zárult. Nagyszámú és lelkes közönség ünneplésével fejeztük be az évadot, és erre számítunk a következőben is. Az őszi koncertek még a 2019-es Alabama Bicentenáriumi Ünnepségek részét képezik majd, és annak fényében a Hunsvtille Symphony zenészeit, valamint a Huntsville Community Chorus-t és helyi vokális szólistákat állít a programok középpontjába. Részletek az alábbi linken találhatóak
http://www.hso.org

Vasárnap és hétfőn egész nap meghallgatásokat tartottunk. Felvettünk egy új első fagottost, egy második harsonást, és három új kollégát a hegedű szólamba. Hamarosan indulok Budapestre, ahol kezdődnek a próbák Az Óriáscsecsemő című báboperám felújítására, és a Magyar Állami Operaház Bohémélet 2.0 előadásaira is.

Jacques And Richard Without Words

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We are ready for our next adventure this weekend. Huntsville Symphony presents “Wagner Without Words” at the Von Braun Center on Saturday evening. The stage will be packed with musicians and instruments including some unusual ones like 4 Wagner-tubas, bass trumpet, anvils (in reality they are different size brake drums and other pieces pf metal). We are going to have 4 (!) harps on stage as well. Conductor Lorin Maazel, encouraged by Wieland Wagner, grandson of the composer, created a symphonic synthesis of Richard Wagner’s famous “Ring Cycle”.
Maazel wanted to
ONE a free-flowing synthesis (no stopping in between scenes or operas) in a chronological order starting with the first notes of ‘Rheingold’ and finishing with the very end of ‘Götterdämmerung’
TWO the transitions between scenes must be musically flawless
THREE most of the parts of ‘The Ring’ originally written for orchestra alone (no voices) must be included
FOUR every note must be Wagner’s own

The end product is a 75 minute long gorgeous piece of music for a huge orchestra. It includes the most original and powerful musical moments of the entire cycle and presents Wagner’s orchestral writing at its best.
Going down the “without words” path I have selected two short pieces by Jacques Offenbach, ‘Intermezzo and Barcarole’ from ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ and ‘Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld’ to make up the first half of the concert. It only takes about 20 minutes to play these two pieces, but then again we will make up for the length in the second half of the show.
Why put Offenbach’s
https://www.wikipedia.org
music with Wagner’s?
https://www.wikipedia.org

First, they were contemporaries.
Second, they were both highly successful and popular, and had a great sense of stage.

I believe, that putting ‘Can Can’ and ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ on the same program makes for and entertaining yet thought provoking evening. If you like popular melodies and great orchestra playing do not miss this concert!