United Kingdom Liszt Mosaics: Alexandre Da Costa (violin), Hungarian State Folk Ensemble with soloists, Saint Ephraim Male Choir, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra / Oleg Caetani (conductor). Sadler’s Wells, London, 3.6.2022. (AK)
Hungarian folk music and folk dance were demonstrated much in depth and with superb quality for the second time in less than a fortnight in London. After the uplifting and mesmerising performance by the four-man band Muzsikás with their two singer-dancer guests at Kings Place (review here), the large forces of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble (Magyar Állami Népi Együttes or MÁNE in short) upped the volume and spatial offerings. Their performance in the 1568 capacity Sadler’s Wells Theatre featured their orchestra with up to ten players, their chorus, their dance ensemble, a pianist with an onstage piano, the Saint Ephraim Male Choir from Budapest, and a reduced but still relatively large Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra string section (with 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 representatives of violins, violas, cellos and basses respectively) from London. Furthermore, additional offerings included the popular solo violinist Alexandre Da Costa from Canada and the distinguished international opera conductor Oleg Caetani for the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra’s contribution.
MÁNE was formed in 1951 but, for their Sadler’s Wells performance, they tied their 70 +1 years with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Addressing Her Majesty, in a video message, Hungary’s President Katalin Novák drew parallels where they could be drawn and warmly congratulated the Queen on her Jubilee.
The performance was long (three hours and ten minutes with one short interval and a short pause between Parts II and III), packed with high quality items tightly following each other and disallowing any possible lack of focus from the audience. One could not help but being totally drawn into the fast changing aural and visual spectacle. The audience, among them many young children, were spellbound and behaved according to the script: there was only one charming dissent with a child calling out a loud ‘Daddy’ when the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra entered the stage. (‘Daddy’ was Stephen Morris who led the orchestra and contributed some lovely solos in Bartók’s Divertimento for string orchestra.)
Part I of the evening consisted of music by Bartók and of folk music associated with his compositions. The title of Part I, ‘From the clearest spring’, was presumably a quotation by Bartók but it was not entirely correct. The English translation of the Hungarian quote (presumably from the composer’ss great Cantata Profana) is ‘Only from the clear spring’. In their defence, MÁNE do not say where the quotation comes from and, arguably, the quote still expresses Bartók’s sentiment. However, Bartók was meticulous about details.
I was delighted by the inclusion of four of Bartók’s 44 duos for two violins but, although performed well by the excellent violinists Ferenc Radics and Alexandre Da Costa, this was the only part of the whole evening which did not represent long term commitment. It is likely that both artists selected or agreed to these pieces specifically for this concert but it is unlikely that the Bartók duos are part of their repertoire. They played from music, which is highly unusual for both of these musicians. In addition, Bartók composed these pieces for children/students. Admittedly, many great artists recorded all 44 duos – one such example is Isaac Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman – but I cannot help thinking that two good students (even just children) would have been eminently appropriate performers on this occasion.
The virtuosity of MÁNE’s orchestra is mind-blowing. Their solo violinists match most (if not all) great violinists of any genre on the world’s concert stages. The music they play is in their blood; they play without sheet music all way through. The guest performer for the concert, Alexandre Da Costa, played Bartók’s Violin Rhapsody No.2 very well to great audience success. But I cannot help wondering why MÁNE felt that they needed outside support to present their London concert. Surely Ferenc Radics, István Pál Szalonna and others in MÁNE’s group are great players, representing Hungarian tradition at their best. Long may they continue.
The mixing of classical (Bartók) and folk in Part I is laudable and worked well. Nevertheless, to have the orchestra conducted by high prestige Caetani only for Bartók’s Violin Rhapsody No.2 and for the third movement of Bartók’s Divertimento for strings must have been a costly luxury. However, not only did I enjoy all contributions but I burst into tears of joy when the MÁNE strings and those of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra concluded Part I by playing one of Bartók’s Rumanian Dances together.
Parts II and III, with a few minutes pause between them, was about dance (with the addition of choral numbers) and was thus subtitled as ‘Dance concert’. The overall title of the evening – Liszt mosaics – clearly referred to these sections. Music primarily by Liszt (with seven numbers) but also by Paganini (two numbers) and Chopin (one number) as well as Gregorian chants and folk songs provided the structural background to a great variety of dances and ritual movements. The virtuosity of the solo violinists (particularly in the two Paganini caprices), as well as of the MÁNE folk orchestra and the eight-member Saint Ephraim Male Choir was well matched by the spectacular MÁNE dancers and the spirited MÁNE chorus. Diverse numbers followed each other without any pause and, significantly, without any technical glitch. It is, however, doubtful that many in the audience recognised the musical numbers, including the hilarious and virtuoso rendering of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 by the eight-member Saint Ephraim Male Choir.
We were treated to creations by four choreographers – György Ágfalvi, Gábor Mihályi, Orza Calin and Zoltan Zsuráfszky Jr – but there was no way of knowing who choreographed what. Fortunately, all numbers were of high standard, thus the four choreographers can delight in their collective achievement. Nevertheless, for me, the sequences of Christian rituals seemed overlong and a bit boring, even if Liszt was a devoted Christian priest and even if these scenes gave me the opportunity to listen to magnificent performances of Gregorian chants by the Saint Ephraim team.
Nobody can complain that we did not get value for money. On the contrary, perhaps it was even a bit too much. It took stamina to digest all what was offered. It reminded me of some dinners I attended in Hungarian homes: the generosity of the large number of delicacies on offer and the overgenerous portions made me very full.
Agnes Kory