Alla ungherese

For his first concert as Music Director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic, Martin Rajna brings together Gustav Mahler’s Symphony N° 1 with two works from the musical heritage of his native Hungary. Around a hundred musicians will be welcoming him and the public with Stele by György Kurtág – who celebrated his hundredth birthday last season – providing a foretaste of repertoire which is especially close to Rajna’s heart. As a graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, the young conductor is following in a living tradition of great names like Béla Bartók and György Ligeti. Not only was he taught by people who studied with György Kurtág, he himself has worked with the «master» and, funded by the Péter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, was able to drink in the knowledge of yet another Hungarian conductor and composer with a global reputation. Following this first concert, another highlight will be January’s performance of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Martin Rajna regards this rarely performed composition as «one of the most important works of the 20th century», and is keen to see how the French sound of the Luxembourg Philharmonic flows into the interpretation. Away from explicitly Hungarian works, there will be the opportunity to explore some familiar composers’ close ties with Hungary. Joseph Haydn, for example, spent several decades in the service of the Esterházy family, whilst Johannes Brahms expressed his fascination for Hungarian music in his Hungarian Dances. Ludwig van Beethoven maintained close contacts with the Brunsviks, members of the Hungarian nobility, and, in his role as artistic director of the Hungarian State Opera, Gustav Mahler conducted performances of Richard Wagner’s Rheingold and Walküre in Hungarian – one of the world’s most difficult languages. What a blessing it is that Martin Rajna will be sharing this tradition with us from the very first bars in the Philharmonie!