Jubilee Concert of the Kodály Institute and International Kodály Society A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

“It is our firm conviction that mankind will live the happier when it has learnt to live with music more worthily. Whoever works to promote this end, in one way or another, has not lived in vain,” avowed Kodály. Over the past several decades the Kodály Institute and International Kodály Society have done much to ensure that this thought is pursued in practice and, directly or indirectly, that a meeting with music and all the opportunities inherent in music are created for as many people as possible. This major concert opens with a Kodály composition written on the folk song The Peacock, which combines ancient Hungarian melody and modern poetic influences represented by Endre Ady. Although in many respects the Variations enter into a dialogue with similar genre compositions of Beethoven and Brahms, as well as earlier Kodály pieces, still Kodály said that “no special musical knowledge whatever is needed to understand them; but we must know the folk-song out of which they have grown like a flower from a seed.” The Solo Sonata performed by Péter Szabó is placed between the two orchestral compositions. The concert winds up with Te Deum of Buda Castle, rated as an equal to Psalmus Hungaricus, which in a unique way summarizes the Kodály style and musical influences on the great Hungarian composer in monumental form. The Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra and Debrecen Kodály Chorus are conducted by Péter Erdei. Soloists: Eszter Wirdl, Atala Schöck, István Horváth and Krisztián Cser.