Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok

Máté Balogh’s new work Alabama March was commissioned by the symphony orchestra of Huntsville in the state of Alabama. The request to write the piece actually came from Gergely Vajda, principal conductor of the Huntsville orchestra, to mark the 200th anniversary of the foundation of Alabama state. The composer himself said it took just two days to complete.

In itself, Bartók’s oeuvre is a bright milestone in the 20th century’s desperate search for a way forward.  As Bartók expresses in Bluebeard’s Castle the irreconcilable difference between man and woman, and the universally valid eternal darkness of their relationship, in The Wooden Prince the renunciation and the sacrifice undertaken for each other rings out in the hope of happy love.

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor was the outcome of a lengthy compositional process dating from the beginning of the middle creative period of Beethoven. Anecdotally, Beethoven is said to have been out strolling once when he heard the strains of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor (K. 491) at an outdoor performance, and turning to the pianist-composer he was with cried: “Cramer, Cramer! We shall never be able to do anything like that!” It is no surprise, therefore, that the opening part of the piano concerto echoes the melody of its musical forerunner.