“This concert is not only about the victims”

Before the concert of works by Jewish composers who died prematurely in the Holocaust or emigrated, as well as the long neglected Szeged Mass by Ernő Dohnányi, who also died outside his homeland, Dr. Leon Botstein, rector of Bard College and conductor for the evening, and Dr. András Batta, government commissioner for classical music and former president of the Liszt Academy, gave speeches.

Photo: Balázs Mohai

Leon Botstein said that if music has a purpose, then it must be to remind us of what is best in us. He expressed hope that the concert would help us to say no to prejudice and xenophobia, although he noted that the concert was not only about the victims. This was partly why the second half of the programme was dedicated to Dohnányi, who was accused of collaboration. "He was neither a hero not an evildoer," the American said, adding that during the first half of the 20th century in Hungary not only did Germans kill Jews but Hungarians killed Hungarians.

In his address Dr. András Batta praised the mission of Leon Botstein dedicated to presenting the art of pre-war Hungarian composers, primarily Weiner and Dohnányi, and closed his remarks by paying tribute to the musicians lost in the Holocaust. Dr. András Batta thanked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, former state secretary Géza Szőcs, and Liszt Academy President Dr. Andrea Vigh, furthermore, the entire team of the Liszt Academy Concert Centre for the organization, and naturally the musicians. During a reception held in the interval by Ilan Mor, Budapest ambassador of the State of Israel, the diplomat expressed his hope that the commemorative year would be a platform for a common perspective onto the past. "Today's concert also serves as a reminder. In the midst of enjoying this beautiful music we cannot forget that we must continue to fight against the forces relativizing the Holocaust," warned Ilan Mor.

Photo: Balázs Mohai

Three of the composers whose works were performed at the concert – László Weiner, Mihály Nádor and László Gyopár – lost their lives in the Holocaust, while the opening piece Yizkor (1947) for viola and orchestra was composed by Ödön Pártos, then professor at the academy of music in Tel Aviv, in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. String soloists were Péter Bársony and Barnabás Kelemen. After the interval the rarely heard masterpiece Szeged Mass (1930) by Ernő Dohnányi, composed for the inauguration of the Votive Church in Szeged, was performed by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Choir, with solos by Zita Váradi (soprano), Szilvia Vörös (mezzo-soprano), Péter Balczó (tenor) and Gábor Bretz (bass), and Zoltán Lengyel on organ.