Admission to Müpa Budapest's virtual concert hall is free of charge.
Conductor:
Featuring:
László Fassang
Zsigmond Szathmáry
Reger
Chorale Fantasia, Op. 40, No. 1 ("Wie schön leucht' uns der Morgenstern”)
J. S. Bach-Reger-Straube
Schule des Triospiels - excerpts
J. S. Bach-Straube
Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544
J. S. Bach-Reger
Fantasia (Toccata) and Fugue in D major, BWV 912
Reger
Variations in F-sharp minor, Op. 73
Reger
"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” - Chorale Fantasia, Op. 52, No. 2 (Fugue)
Sweelinck
Chromatic Fantasia
Buxtehude
Toccata in D minor, BuxWV 155
J. S. Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Franck
Prelude, Fugue and Variation
Vierne
Symphony No. 2 - Scherzo
Liszt
Legend in E major
Alain
Litanies
Messiaen
Joie et Clarté des Corps Glorieux
Bartók-Balázs Szabó
The Miraculous Mandarin - suite
Zsigmond Szathmáry
Mors et vita
Liszt
Les Préludes
Saint-Saëns
Symphony No. 3 in C minor ("Organ”), Op. 78
We would like, even during this extraordinary situation, for the Müpa Budapest audience to still be able to encounter the world's most outstanding and thrilling artists each evening - this time in their own homes. It is precisely for this reason that we will open Müpa Budapest's virtual concert hall and auditoriums - each night at the familiar times - by providing access to a single unforgettable performance from past years.
The performance will be broadcasted on our website and YouTube channel.
Balázs Szabó, our guide on an interesting workshop tour through the past of organ music, is still young and yet has already followed a strikingly diverse career path engaged with both the history of the instrument and organ renovation. In providing a taste of the work of Max Reger and Karl Straube, he illuminates their relationship to the music of the "originator”, Johann Sebastian Bach.
The sixth evening in the Organ Stories series again focuses on the versatility of this Queen of Instruments and its variants, as Fassang plays movements from the best of the organ repertoire as Kossuth Prize-winning actor Mácsai recalls the most exciting stories from the previous five concerts in the series. The history of the instrument thus comes to life, from the water organ of Aquincum to Baroque music to the organ of today. There will also be a separate chapter dedicated to the marvellous Müpa organ, with its almost 7,000 pipes, 92 registers and five manuals from which an almost infinite range of sounds can be produced.
The Müpa Budapest's organ is still full of surprises: this time it will be used to played transcriptions, and not just any transcriptions. Phenomenal organist Balázs Szabó's transcription of Bartók's diabolically difficult work, The Miraculous Mandarin suite is a sensation. The young player, historian and restorer of organs, who also has a one-person series performing all of Bach's organ works to his name, will be taking the stage with Zsigmond Szathmáry, a master 50 years his elder who is respected as a major figure in contemporary organ-playing. They have even jointly made a transcription of Liszt's deservedly popular symphonic poem for the occasion. The composition Mors et vita, which receives its Hungarian début at the concert and takes inspiration from the age-old and still relevant human experience of the struggle between life and death, came into being for the 50th anniversary celebration of the inauguration of the organs in Freiburg Cathedral, and was commissioned by the city.
At the end of our compilation dedicated to the 15-year-old organ of Müpa Budapest, a work by Saint-Saëns will be performed with the solo of László Fassang. The composer dedicated his Symphony in C minor, written in 1886, to the memory of his recently deceased friend Franz Liszt. The orchestral scoring of the two-movement symphony also includes the organ, and the work thus became popularly known as the Organ Symphony.
This recording was made at concerts held at Müpa Budapest on 7 March 2012, on 21 December 2013 and on 21-22 May 2016 (Organ Stories No. 6, Masterful transcriptions, Organ10).
Presented by: Müpa Budapest