The 2026/2027 concert season at Kodály Philharmonia Debrecen continues on 16 October with an evening where worlds of music follow one another through the works of Bruch, Respighi, and Kodály.

Programme

• Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26

• Respighi: Pines of Rome

• Kodály: Te Deum of Buda Castle

Featuring: Ágnes Rendes, Marianna Bódi, János Szerekován – vocals / Mariam Abouzahra – violin / Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra / Kodály Choir (Choir Director: Zoltán Kocsis-Holper)
Conductor: Dániel Somogyi-Tóth

Ticket prices: HUF 4,500 and HUF 3,500

Further details

Max Bruch, the outstanding 19th-century German composer, is now represented by relatively few works in the concert repertoire, although he enriched the musical canon with operas and oratorios as well. His Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor is an exception, however, as it remains one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the Romantic violin repertoire. The definitive version of the concerto, premiered in 1867 with Joseph Joachim as soloist, consists of three movements that flow directly into one another. The opening movement is entitled Vorspiel (Prelude). It is here that Bruch’s unusually prominent role for the symphonic orchestral writing can already be observed. The slow middle movement captivates with its exceptionally beautiful melody, before the finale’s spirited and distinctive musical material provides the soloist with an excellent opportunity to display their temperament and virtuosity.

The second work in Ottorino Respighi’s Roman Triptych, the symphonic poem Pines of Rome, is more than simply a musical portrait of a city. The work connects different locations and historical periods of Rome in a single imaginary journey. Composed in 1924, it evokes the city’s ancient past, the playful world of childhood, the mysterious atmosphere of the Roman catacombs and the vibrant life of the modern city, with Rome’s pine trees at its centre. Its four movements present four scenes, each with a distinctive atmosphere. The lively, playful music of children at play in the gardens of the Villa Borghese is followed by sombre, archaic melodies rising from the depths of the catacombs. At night on the Janiculum Hill, the song of a nightingale creates a special, dreamlike moment, before the final movement expands into a monumental finale with the sight of the sun rising over the Via Appia. Respighi’s extraordinarily varied orchestration transforms the orchestra into something resembling a painter’s palette: brilliant colours, distant bells, birdsong and vast musical blocks bring the Eternal City vividly to life. Pines of Rome thus becomes at once a musical landscape, a historical vision and a magnificent orchestral fresco.

Zoltán Kodály’s Te Deum was composed in 1936 to mark the 250th anniversary of the recapture of Buda Castle from the Turks. The work is based on the Latin text of the Te Deum hymn of praise, which for centuries has been one of the most important hymns of joy, thanksgiving and Christian communal faith. In Kodály’s composition, tradition and modernity form a remarkable unity. Gregorian roots, the spirit of Palestrina, the melodic world of Hungarian folk music and the soundscape of the 20th century are all present in the score. The alternating, and increasingly interwoven, voices of the choir and soloists also express the coming together of individual and collective voices. The Te Deum of Buda Castle is both monumental and deeply personal in character. Alongside majestic choral and orchestral passages, it contains intimate, prayerful moments, while towards the end the music subsides with a solemn and uplifting sense of transcendence.

Source: debrecenprogramok.com | Photo credit: debrecen.hu