OPENING CONCERT OF THE 76TH CONCERT SEASON

In his Dances from Galanta, ZOLTÁN KODÁLY (1882–1967) exploited dance melodies that had been popular and published in abundance at the end of the 18^th century. Kodály spent part of his childhood in Galanta – which is today in Slovakia but at the time was part of the Hungarian territory of the Habsburg monarchy. In his preface to the printed music the composer wrote that, „Galanta is a very small town on the raiilway route between Vienna and Budapest. At the time of my childhood there was a famous but now no longer existing gypsy band there, which for me as a boy was my first encounter with the 'sound of an orchestra' . [...]  Around 1800 several volumes of Hungarian dances were published in Vienna [...] . The melodies were preserved by tradition and it from these that the main motifs of my work come.“  Dances from  Galanta were written for the 80^th anniversary of the founding of the Budapest Philharmonic Society and were premiered by the Budapest Philharmonic conducted by Ernő von Dohnányi on the 23^rd of October 1933.

The Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra KV. 622 by WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791) was probably composed at the beginning of October 1791 in Vienna. It was written for Mozart's friend Anton Stadler, an outstanding clarinettist and basset horn player. At the end of 1789 Mozart started to write a rondo concertante movement for the basset horm. It remained only a fragment, but its theme is the same as that of the first movement of the Clarinet Concerto.  The introduction of the clarinet into the classical symphony orchestra owed much to the capella at the Court of Mannheim, where Mozart encountered the instrument in this role during his stay in 1778 – subsequently including it in his own symphonies. In 1789 it was to  Anton Stadler (1753–1812 ) that he dedicated his Clarinet Quintet KV 581 and later several more minor pieces. Mozart's Concerto for Clarinet  is a unique work; it may be considered the first piece for this solo instrument which exploits all its registers, demanding great mobility up and down the scales and flowing cantilena.  The orchestra does little more than to provide musical background to bring out the range of colours of the solo clarinet still further.   

The Ninth Symphony by LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827) was the cornerstone of the evolution of the form. His  Symphony no. 7 in A major and Symphony no. 8 in F major were written at almost the same time; both in 1812.  The starting point of the first movement of the Eighth Symphony  was an earlier sketch for a never completed piano concerto. The symphony is infused with a joyful mood expressed above all in rhythm.  Beethoven even rejected the usual slow movement and in its place we find an Allegretto scherzando, while in the dance movement he returns to a minuet.  The symphony was first performed on the 27^th of February 1814 at   a benefit concert for Beethoven in the great hall of the Reduta in Vienna. The Eighth Symphony, „the most recent product of the Beethovenian muse“, wrote a critic, “on a first listening failed to satisfy and the applause that it received was not accompanied by the enthusiasm distinguishing works that are universally liked.“  The critic did not, however see the reason for this in „a weaker or less artistic working through“ of the symphony, but in the  poorly devised programme of the whole concert, where after „a surfeit of many beautiful things [...] the excitement has inevitably diminished. If this symphony is presented by itself at a future time, then we have no doubt that it will be favourably received.“ The critic's words were to prove fully justified and the symphony was fully appreciated in subsequent years, as  is clear for example from the numerous arrangements for chamber ensemble.