| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 31-Jan-2013 Barbican Centre: Hall | Fevered but not all that Balkan? Crossover at the Barbican with the LSO and the Theodosii Spassov Trio |
 Kristjan Järvi cuts quite a dash on the podium, youthful, exuberant and full of energy, all adjectives that could be applied to the music in last night's Barbican crossover gig by the LSO, entitled "Balkan Fever". The concert was in two halves, linked by an over-arching theme of folk- and gypsy-inspired music, the first half being straight classical (Kodaly and Enescu), while the second was headlined by the Theodosii Spassov Trio. Spassov is a Bulgarian player of the kraval (an end-blown flute); he is accompanied by two guitarists.
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| 22-Feb-2012 Sidney Myer Music Bowl | Melbourne Symphony: Kodály, Liszt and Tchaikovsky |
 Wednesday’s performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, entitled “Rising Star,” was the third in a series of four free concerts this year at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. For over fifty years, these annual free concerts have given audiences in Melbourne a unique opportunity to sample select works from the classical music repertoire in open air. More than 9,000 attended Wednesday’s concert alone, many bringing picnic boxes and sitting on the grass.
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| 21-Jan-2012 Queen's Hall, Edinburgh | Scottish Chamber Orchestra: "In The Steppes of Central Europe" |
 Chris Christodoulou.jpg) I would be surprised if, by the end of the evening, I'd been the only one to suspect a hidden pun in the programme's title, 'In The Steppes of Central Europe'. All three pieces shared a dance element. You would expect this from Kodály's Dances of Galánta. Commissioned in 1933 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society, this seamless suite features dance tunes from the town of Galánta (now in Slovakia), where Kodály spent seven years of his childhood. Odd as it may sound, I've never heard these pieces sounding so Slavic. The SCO really nailed this work.Read full review... | |
| 18-Nov-2011 Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn | Nicola Benedetti and Diego Matheuz: succesful debuts with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra |
 Zoltán Kodály was an ethnomusicographer as much as a composer: he studied the folk music of Hungary, and this influence can be heard in most of his works. Dances of Galánta is no exception, yet it is so much more than folk melodies arranged for an orchestra. As an orchestral suite it’s dynamic yet consistent; the rhythms are upbeat and make you want to dance (as a dance suite should), yet the melodies are intimate and subtle. The woodwind section was excellent, playing the incredibly demanding and high-speed parts with ease, each one sounding as beautiful as the next.Read full review... | |
