Ives - Brahms - Ligeti

In his early work Concert Românesc, Transylvania native Ungar Ligeti follows in the footsteps of Bartók and Kodály and creates a great orchestral work from folk music motifs. With this “camouflage work,” he tried in vain to circumvent the repressive cultural policies in 1950s Romania. Brahms, who held a musical love for Hungary, turns in his variations to the Esterházy Kapellmeister Joseph Haydn, thereby underscoring his own claim to being a Classicist. The American Charles Ives, however, became such a figure only after his death in 1954; during his lifetime, his astonishing oeuvre – as deeply rooted in tradition as it was modern – remained beneath the music world's radar.

PROGRAMME:
György Ligeti: Concert Românesc
Johannes Brahms: Variationen über ein Thema von Haydn
Charles Ives: Sinfonie Nr. 2

Photo © Ludwig Olah