WINE FESTIVAL GALA CONCERT by
Bogányi Gergely
and the Óbuda Danubia Orchestra
Palace of arts
friday, 18 september, 2009, 7.30 p.m.
Showing
Weber-Berlioz: Invitation to the Waltz
Mendelssohn: IV. Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90 ("The Italian")
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante con moto
III. Con moto moderato
IV. Saltarello. Presto
Csajkovszkij:Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23
I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso
II. Andantino semplice
III. Allegro con fuoco
Composed in 1819, the original title of Carl Maria Weber’s piece for piano is Aufforderung zum Tanz, that is “Invitation to the Waltz”. Its title Invitation to the Waltz is undoubtedly justified: the music clearly evokes the world of the Viennese waltzes. Weber’s composition remains among the favourites of the concertgoing
public. The other great composers of the time also liked it: Liszt played it at his concerts, while Hector Berlioz orchestrated it.
In his short life, Felix Mendelssohn travelled to Italy at the age of 22 and the onder of Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Milan and the Italian landscape had a great effect upon him. His “Italian” symphony radiates harmony and bursting joy even in its first movement. The elegant, lyrical tunes of the second movement express nostalgic wanderlust, while the third movement is a German dance evoking the composer’s home and the work closes with a superb stylisation of a Neapolitan leaping dance called the Saltarello. “The banalities should be removed from it, the unplayable part should be made playable.” This is what his friend, Nikolai Rubinstein, said when Piotr Tchaikovsky showed him the score for his first piano concert. Although the composer often took his friends’ opinions to heart, he stood firm this time and changed nothing - except for the recommendation. He crossed out Rubinstein’s name and wrote Hans von Bülow in its place. The great German pianist and conductor found the piano part especially difficult, although after he had studied the score more thoroughly, he stated that “the work was well worth the trouble”. He first presented it in Boston in 1875 and then in German cities, gaining great acclaim wherever he went. It was precisely this composition that made the composer’s name known across the world.
Sponsor of the Gala concert:
