Today we’re thrilled to be ed by Gergely Madaras who conducts a programme full of warmth and energy, from the BBC Philharmonic’s home at MediaCityUK.
Gergely, an advocate of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, introduces us to a few of the Hungarian composers’ most vibrant works, plus we hear a treat of a suite from Shostakovich to finish.
Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, Béla Bartók was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became known as ethnomusicology. Today we hear three of Bartók’s works, amongst them his vibrant Dance Suite, which was commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the union of the cities Buda and Pest, in 1923.
Zoltán Kodály, another major figure in the collection and analysis of Hungarian folk music, was also invited to contribute a score for the celebration of Budapest, but today we hear a piece he composed a few years earlier in 1917 - his Hungarian Rondo. This work premiered in Vienna in early 1918 and was originally titled “Old Hungarian Soldiers’ Songs.” Its themes are based on the verbunkós, a type of army recruiting dance which utilized gypsy bands, and the piece shimmers with colour.
