BUDAPEST STRINGS

MUSIC IN THE GARDEN

Artistic Director: Károly Botvay

Concertmaster: János Pilz

Featuring: Meláth Andrea - vocals

Elgar: Serenade for Strings in E minor, op. 20
Debussy: Songs for alto voice
Péter Tóth: Lorca Chansons
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Debussy: Quartet in G minor, op. 10 (string arrangement)

The opening piece of the concert is one of Sir Edward Elgar's most popular compositions. A real treasure from his early years, the first work that the writer was pleased with. It was first performed by Elgar's students, the Worcester Ladies' Orchestral Class, and the official premiere was three years later in 1896 in Antwerp. The Serenade for Strings was recorded, with Elgar conducting in 1933.

The songs of Claude Debussy and Péter Tóth are sung by Andrea Meláth, Liszt Award and Bartók-Pásztory Award-winning artist and head of the facutly of singing at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.

Péter Tóth writes about his work:

"Lorca Chansons is a series of seven, more or less contiguous movements. Using Lorca's poems or poem fragments it expresses a woman's love, struggles, desires, and complaints. The work was born at the request of Ildikó Iván in 2008 and was first performed in the same year."

Debussy's only quartet was written at the same time as the Afternoon of a Faun. While in the prelude modern, forward-looking musical elements dominate, the string quartet follows more traditional compositional techniques. The concert features a string arrangement of the quartet that had a significant impact on Zoltán Kodály.

Cecília Szőke

Tickets: 3500 Ft

A two-part concert that ends around 10 pm
Held in the concert room in bad weather

A Summer in Óbuda program sponsored by the local government of Óbuda-Békásmegyer