Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

We have become accustomed to the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, headed by Gábor Hollerung for the past more-than-a-quarter of a century, delighting audiences with programmes, original artistic concepts and combinations that are moments of key importance in Hungarian music life. Once again they have come up with something special. In the first half we hear orchestral arrangements of instrumental works by Bach. The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which was originally composed for the organ, was first performed by an orchestra in Walt Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia in a grandiose transcription and under the baton of legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who, what’s more, made an appearance in the film. The Bach masterpiece Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor was the first organ work that the British-born conductor – who went on to become a world star in the USA – rewrote for a symphony orchestra, while the arrangement of the variation suite Chaconne in D minor, which was originally for solo violin, was equally effective. Symphony No. 2 by Felix Mendelssohn, who undertook the lion’s share of the discovery of Bach music, is performed after the interval. This work was partly composed under the influence of Baroque oratorios and Bach. The cantata-type work, written to Biblical scripts, is closely associated with the great Johann Sebastian, since it was written at the request of the Leipzig city council on the 400th anniversary of the invention of book printing, while its premiere was held in St Thomas Church, a venue renowned for its associations with Bach, 175 years ago.