Uplifting, simply uplifting!
SANJAY KUMAR
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The dynamics of strings were in full flow as the Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra played in Delhi the other day.
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SETTING THE SCORE The Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra in performance.
It was as if nature had taken a cue. The overcast sky cleared, the ambience was set for a musical evening. The Hungarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra led by the world-renowned violinist and conductor Miklós Szenthelyi enthralled the audience at Kamani auditorium. The orchestra was performing in the country for the first time. The evening's musical treat started off with a faithful rendering of Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in B flat major for violin and cello. It reflected the virtuosity of Szenthelyi on the violin, ably assisted by Judit Faludi on the cello. The audience was transported to the solemn and sublime moods of Vivaldi's piece and the maestro set the score for the evening.
The choice of pieces not only had a chronological sequence in terms of the composers but also seemed to fit in with a grand design of building up the tempo for the entire concert. "Szenthelyi has not only been a professor of the strings, Faculty of Ferenc Liszt, Academy of Music in Budapest, he has also been developing a new genre of musicianship in Europe," noted Imre Lázár, Director of the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, which co-organised the event with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Vast repertoire
The orchestra was formed in late 1998 by Miklos Szenthelyi with his graduating students of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Budapest. It comprises string musicians with a vast repertoire, but specialising in romantic compositions. True to its fame, the next piece was of G. F. Handel's "Passacaglia" where the transition from the mirthful tones of Vivaldi seemed to flow into seamless waves of romantic love and passion. The raptures of the heart continued with a less known piece of Antal Csermák, which reflected the angst of an era with all its resplendent glories and failures. By now, Szenthelyi demonstrated his virtuosity as a conductor, leading his students into enthralling the audience with the raw energy of Csermák.
Romance seemed to have taken wings and found its outlet through strings in all these pieces. It was only natural and perhaps logical that having built up the musical ambience with these wonderful compositions, the orchestra delighted the audience with the pieces of a sonatina, walzer, elegie, and finale of the Russian master Peter Tchaikovsky.
It reverberated with the legendary melancholy of the composer and satisfied the appetite of the connoisseurs and the young hearts alike. One almost felt with the poet that the sweetest songs are indeed those that tell our saddest thoughts. The grand finale of the evening was reserved for the great Hungarian composer of the 19th Century, Ferenc Liszt. The eponymous piece of Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 transported the audience into the theatrics of emotion, where notes competed with each other in echoing the pangs of the heart. The piece was remarkable for its contrast of tone and its dynamics, drifting between sudden bursts of energy and playful notes.
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