The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed an all-Hungarian programme at the Royal Albert Hall conducted by Vladimir Jurowski as part of the BBC Proms 2011 season.
The concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 and filmed for BBC4.
You can listen online until 1 August using BBC iplayer
The concert will be broadcast on BBC4 on Friday 29 August at 7.30pm
Reviews
The Guardian (4 stars) – Tim Ashley:
Works by later Hungarian composers formed its companion pieces. Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, all suave strings and elegant woodwind, was the curtain raiser. Bartók’s stark First Piano Concerto, meanwhile, with its self-conscious avoidance of lyricism, is, in some respects, as ground-breaking a work as the Liszt. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was the soloist in a powerhouse performance that followed Bartók’s requested platform layout with the pianist surrounded by the orchestral percussion.
Evening Standard (4 stars) – Nick Kimberley:
The principal conductor launched Kodály’s Dances of Galánta as if intent on doing the dancing himself. The orchestra responded, catching the set’s jaunty insouciance as well as its sinewy vigour.
Nicholas Carpenter’s mellifluous clarinet stood out, first establishing a mood of longing, later returning to draw a nocturnal veil over proceedings. Written in 1926, Bartók’s First Piano Concerto still sounds astonishingly modern.
ArtsDesk – Ismene Brown:
The bipolar despair and triumph in the portrayal of Faust in the first movement is perverted with a deliciously savoury malevolence in the third, Mephistopheles movement, Faust’s tunes now tainted with poisonous vapours and whispered mockery. The selection of orchestral colour is breathtaking, brilliantly delivered last night by the LPO.
Kodály Dances of Galánta
Bartók Piano Concerto No. 1
Liszt A Faust Symphony
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano
Markus Jentzsch tenor
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Choir (men’s voices)
London Symphony Chorus (men’s voices)
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