Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra

FROM MENDELSSOHN TO MENDELSSOHN

When we think of Romantic composers, names such as Wagner, Liszt, Brahms and Bruckner are likely to spring to mind, along with the earlier pioneers Schubert and Schumann. And, of course, there is Mendelssohn and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dvořák and the New World Symphony, or Grieg and Peer Gynt. This concert pays tribute to these three composers, revealing a distinctive and perhaps less familiar side of each.

Mendelssohn, for instance, was still in his early teens when he composed his twelve string symphonies. Although these works were essentially exercises in composition, listening to them reveals a remarkably accomplished and endlessly inventive child prodigy.

When it comes to Dvořák, many listeners think first of his weighty, mature masterpieces. Yet alongside his love of locomotives and plum dumplings, Dvořák was also passionate about dance. He composed two major cycles of Slavonic Dances, wrote numerous waltzes, and filled his other works with dance rhythms that seem to emerge at every turn. This evening, you can take to the dance floor with Dvořák.

Grieg’s Holberg Suite transports us to the world of Ludvig Holberg, the Norwegian-Danish writer who lived and worked during the early Baroque period. In this work, the Romantic composer Grieg effectively creates an imagined Baroque suite, as if written in Holberg’s own time.

Mendelssohn was still only sixteen when he composed the E-flat major Octet that brings the concert to a close. Written for double string quartet, the work inevitably invites comparison with Beethoven’s Op. 20, also in E-flat major, which falls just short of an octet in its instrumentation, being a septet instead. Once again, Mendelssohn demonstrates his intimate understanding of the greatest masters of chamber music, confidently carrying the tradition forward in his own right.

The same spirit of mastery and continuity is embodied by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, which for more than half a century has been one of Hungary’s most distinguished interpreters of chamber music and orchestral works for smaller ensembles.

Spend an evening in the company of these gifted composers, their extraordinary works and their acclaimed interpreters.