The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and I are about to set off on a tour which fills us with pride, in terms of destination (taking in eight important U.K. cities, including London, over a ten-day stay) and in terms of the programmes. These have been chosen to alternate such cornerstones of Classicism as Beethoven’s Third and Seventh Symphonies with the Chopin and the Rachmaninov concertos no. 2 for piano and orchestra, and the colour-rich, virtuoso symphonism of Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Lizst’s Mephisto Waltz and the overture from Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila. On such an important tour, we are delighted to have as our guest the young British pianist Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, whose talent continues to electrify and captivate concert audiences and critics alike (and who has recently been signed to Sony Classical). Of course, a tour which is an opportunity both to showcase the orchestra officially, and at the same time to give “our” orchestra a more international dimension, could only begin in Budapest, where we will be giving a concert on 27th November at the Müpa, starting with a tribute to our inspirational Hungarian composer, Kodály, with the Dances of Galánta, then leaping into the core of Romanticism with the Chopin Concerto no. 2 in F minor, in which Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will begin her artistic partnership with the HRSO, moving on to end the concert with the Eroica Symphony. I want to emphasise how important it is for me to start this adventure with the HRSO, on home ground and abroad, by conducting the Dances of Galánta, not only as a tribute to Hungarian composer Kodály, but also with my mind on the fact that the work was originally commissioned to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra in 1933. The composer paid tribute to the virtuosity of this Hungarian orchestra, composing a piece filled with fiery rhythms and brilliant colours, a masterpiece in which his beloved folk music and masterful orchestration are finely balanced. Everything in this work is a celebration of Kodály’s inexhaustible rhythmic and melodic creativity and of the history of Hungarian music.

📷 Hungarian Radio Art Groups/Attila Vörös