Rising Stars 3: Iván Fischer introduces young conductors

Three eras, three genres. The Australian assistant conductor of our Music Director, Vladimir Fanshil, will be making his debut with a varied programme in the BFO’s new Rising Stars series.

The concert begins with a gem, rare to Hungarian concert halls. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka’s Waltz Fantasy is reminiscent of grand balls; he composed it for piano four hands in 1839, and later orchestrated it in 1856.

The inscription “Concertone di Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart” stood on the manuscript of Mozart’s K. 190 composition. Concertone means ‘grand concerto’; it is a transition between the genres of concerto grosso, already going out of fashion at the time, and the sinfonia concertante. The concerto was written for two violins, although Mozart also provided plenty of opportunity for the oboe and cello to shine. The premiere most probably took place in the Archbishop of Salzburg’s palace, and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Mozart played one of the solo violin parts himself.

The Seventh Symphony is Prokofiev’s last complete orchestral work. He composed it in 1951-52 on the commission of Soviet Radio. Its characteristics are rich, flowing melodies, simplicity and transparency. It is a telling addendum to the story of the work’s conception, and to the age, that during the rehearsals of the 1952 premiere the conductor convinced the composer to rewrite the ending of the piece to make it more uplifting, because that way Prokofiev could receive a First Class Stalin Prize. Prokofiev was neglected and miserably poor in those years, so he took the advice. But before his death he restored the original version of the closing movement. His colleague, Shostakovich, lauded Prokofiev’s swan song with warm words.