Concerto Budapest

Gábor Takács-Nagy conducts Mozart, members of the Menuhin family visit Budapest, and Concerto Budapest evoke through their play the Byron hero tormented by guilt. This concert has so much to offer everyone. The Mozart composition, frequently referred to simply as the Overture in Italian style, dates from Salzburg in 1779; researchers have discerned the overtures of several theatrical works in it. Yehudi Menuhin’s fourth and youngest child, Jeremy Menuhin (who celebrates his 70th birthday in 2021), has long burnished a reputation both as pianist and composer and at this concert we find him taking to the stage in both capacities. This recital marks the world premiere of his five-movement Double Concerto with the two soloists being the composer himself and his South Korean wife Mookie Menuhin. “The premiere of the Manfred Symphony left nothing to be desired and still it was my impression that the audience faced it with incomprehension, coolly and indifferently. Even the ovations following the end of the performance were unable to dispel this notion of mine.” Thus fretted Tchaikovsky after the Moscow debut (1886) of his programme symphony inspired by Byron, although posterity has since refuted the composer on countless occasions.