Orchestral Academy

In autumn 2021, the Liszt Academy and the National Philharmonic Orchestra launched a new cooperation project aimed at providing MA students of instruments with orchestral practice in one of the leading orchestras in the country. The concert will feature one professional musician and one student per music stand. The first piece to be performed is a Beethoven symphony commissioned by Count Franz von Oppersdorff. It is less formal than the previous Eroica symphony, and was not an undivided success in its day. Some, however, saw its merits – Berlioz, for example, thought the melody of the second movement was so wonderful that it could not be the work of a mortal man. Rachmaninov's early symphony was not a critical success either (although it is thought that the orchestra's lack of preparation and the alleged drunkenness of the conductor, Alexander Glazunov, may have played a part), and the composer was so traumatised by the failure that he soon afterwards became depressed, went into psychotherapy and did not compose for three years. The work was lost after Rachmaninov left his homeland in 1917, and it was only after his death in 1944 that the score was compiled from the surviving part scores.