Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his radiant, three-movement Symphony in C major in the summer of 1780, shortly before his move from Salzburg to Vienna. The Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major dates from two and a quarter years earlier, in April 1778, during his sojourn in Paris. It was composed for the Duc de Guînes, a flute-playing aristocrat, and his harpist daughter. After the interval, the programme features Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 52 in C minor. Following the sunny mood that dominates the first half of the concert, this work confronts us with the darker side of the C tonality as one of Haydn’s more turbulent pieces reflecting his Sturm und Drang sensibilities. The Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon recognised in it what he called the “grandfather” of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which is also in C minor. Largely unknown to the Hungarian public, Antonio Casimir Cartellieri was born in Poland of Italian paternal and Baltic-German maternal descent. He studied with Albrechtsberger and Salieri in Vienna, befriended Beethoven, and remained in the service of Prince Lobkowitz until his death. His oeuvre has only begun to be rediscovered in recent decades. Anita Szabó and Deborah Sipkay are principal players of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. The Kossuth Prize-winning György Vashegyi is the leading figure in the authentic performance of early music in Hungary, the founder and director of the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, and general music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic.