We regret to inform you that Daniil Trifonov, the soloist of our concerts on May 15-16-17, has cancelled his performances in Budapest for health reasons. In order for you to enjoy the quality you expect from the BFO, we also had to change the program: in the first part of the concert, we will perform Joseph Haydn's Violin concerto No.1 in C major with Ukrainian violinist Diana Tishchenko. 

Serving at the Esterházy court, Haydn focused primarily on orchestral music. The outstanding concertmaster of the court ensemble, Luigi Tomasini, inspired Haydn’s compositions several times, hence the inscription on the title page of the Violin Concerto No. 1 from the middle of the 1760’s: “fatto per il Luigi” – “for Luigi.” Scored in bright C major, the splendid, elegant opening movement resembles 17th century French overtures. In the slow movement, a simple motif develops into a lyrical song, whereas the Finale offers a colorful palette of string instruments.

Mahler started to work on his first symphony at the end of 1887. At first, he planned it to be a five-movement symphonic poem with a program. “A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything”, he wrote to Sibelius. This attitude is reflected in the motifs reaching across the movements and related to one another, the self-references, the stylistic diversions and the varied instrumentation. The symphony starts with a rather long and slow introduction. Then we gradually arrive from the motif fragments at the main motif of the composition. Instead of the “Blumine” deleted by Mahler and now performed as an independent concert piece, the second movement was replaced with an energetic scherzo, which is followed by a unique slow movement including a children’s song performed by double bass, klezmer music and a soldier’s march. The piece concludes with a passionate finale, tragic at first, but eventually triumphant.

Did you know? The premiere of Mahler’s symphony was in Budapest on December 20, 1889 (conducted by the author); the symphony was last played by the Festival Orchestra in Milan on September 19, 2011, on both occasions the conductor was Iván Fischer.

Contemporary events the novel Three Men in a Boat by the English writer Jerome K. Jerome was published in 1889 / on February 17, 1889 the French composer César Franck’s Symphony in D minor premiered in Paris / Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch painter painted The Starry Night in 1889 / the 300-meter tall Eiffel Tower in Paris which was built for the world exhibition was opened to the public on May 15, 1889