Pannon Philharmonic

Conductor

Dániel Somogyi-Tóth

Dániel Somogyi-Tóth is the musical director and conductor of the Csokonai Theatre and the director and artistic leader of the Kodály Filharmónia (Philharmonics) of Debrecen. He was born in 1981 in Budapest; studied piano and composition at Béla Bartók Conservatory; graduated from the conductor and organist faculty of Franz… More

Soloist

Kristóf Baráti

violin

Kristóf Baráti was born in 1979 in Budapest, from a family of musicians; his first violin teacher was his mother. 1981-1991 he lived, with his parents, in Venezuela; he gave his first concert with orchestra at the age of eight,… More

About the Programme

The story of “Fairy Ilona and Prince Árgyálus” has been chosen by László Dubrovay for the symphonic poem written for the 200th anniversary of the death of Franz Liszt. In seven scenes from the tale the author with a clear will to make experiments symbolizes each person of the tale with one group of instruments. The work sounds as if it were from the beginning of the 20th century and thus revoking the young Kodály and Debussy. A real pearl of the concerto-repertoire from the 19th century is the violin concerto of Mendelssohn in E-minor. As far as the main compositional principles are concerned the concerto is to be regarded as classical, but the composer has intertwined this structure by romantic, unique tones. Warmly sung, flooding cantilenas, craving melodies and motives appearing flying on the wings of angels make this concerto a loveable masterpiece. The symphonic poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra is homage to the genius of Nietzsche by the hands of Richard Strauss. The music is no orchestrated philosophy; it is rather inspired by the atmosphere and language of the author. The composer signalises the individual parts evolving from the shining of the rising sun with the titles of chapters seemingly in an attempt to guide the listener.