Gábor Takács-Nagy & Liszt Academy Symphony Orchestra Presented by Liszt Academy

‘Classics in the hands of masters.’ This could equally be the title of this recital. World-famous violinist-conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy, holder of the Bartók-Pásztory Prize, gives a foretaste of the music of the Viennese classics. The solo in Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major is taken by Kitagawa Chisa, Japanese violinist, who collected the Liszt Academy special prize at the 2017 Bartók World Competition and Festival and who played this very piece in the chamber music final of the contest. The diversity of the work’s movements and tempos, its unique and self-confident style, make it an obvious contender for one of Mozart’s most popular violin concertos.

The music of Mozart is also represented in the symphony nicknamed ‘Haffner’. The 4-movement work launching with a daring and dynamic opening theme not only evokes the world of Viennese serenades but also, in the finale, there are reminders of the Osmin ‘gallows aria’ (The Abduction from the Seraglio). The closing chord of the concert is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, the famous ‘Pastorale’, one of the composer’s pieces of programme music. At the debut of the work symphonically depicting Nature in all its glory, the composer actually appended the title ‘Recollections of rural life’.