Saturday, 22 October, Kolarac Hall, 20.00
FRANZ LISZT
200th birthday anniversary (October 22, 1811 – October 22, 2011)
RTS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & MALE CHOIR
Conductor: Bojan Suđić
Dejan Lazić, piano     
Peter Balco, tenor
Liszt: Totentanz, Paraphrase on Dies irae, for piano and orchestra
Liszt: A Faust Symphony in three Character Portraits
Ticket prices: 500, 700, 900 din.

Franz Liszt
TOTENTANZ (DANSE MACABRE: PARAPHRASE ON DIES IRAE) for piano and orchestra, S.126 (1849-53; 1859)   16’

A FAUST SYMPHONY in Three Character Portraits, for orchestra with ad libitum male choir and tenor solo, S.108 (1854, rev. 1857-61, 1880)   70’
Faust

Gretchen

Mephistopheles - Chorus Mysticus

Hungarian composer Franz Liszt is one of the most conspicuous artistic personalities of the 19th century. Active as a pianist, pedagogue and writer, but also a humanist and philanthropist, he is best remembered as a virtuoso pianist and a prolific composer of various genres: primarily piano and orchestral music (he is credited with being the creator of symphonic poem), as well as vocal music, both secular and sacred (songs, choirs).
The works of Franz Liszt featured on this concert present two constant and interrelated sources of inspiration in his creative work: on the one hand, his fascination with death (to this group belong piano pieces like Funérailles, La lugubre gondola, Pensé des morts…), and on the other, his enchantment with demonic forces and the struggle between the powers of good and evil within man, revealing Liszt’s peculiar understanding of Christian faith (here belong some of his best known compositions, such as three Mephisto Waltzes, Piano Sonata in B minor and Sonata After Reading Dante).

The piece for piano and orchestra Totentanz (Paraphrase on Dies Irae) is inspired by the famous fresco The Triumph of Death by Francesco Traini that Liszt saw in Pisa in 1838. The mediaeval hymn Dies Irae, already used by Berlioz with marvelous effect in the last movement of Symphonie fantastique in order to depict the grotesque dance of witches, served as the theme for a series of six variations illustrating – in the best romantic manner – the succession of terrifying images presented in the apocalyptic text of the Dies Irae hymn.  
Beside the descriptive treatment of orchestra (some authors, for instance, connect the col legno technique with the rattle of the bones of dancing skeletons!) Totentanz offers a „catalogue” of the ultimate techniques in piano virtuosity, and for the pianist it is a genuine tour de force. We find parallel octaves, octaves rapidly exchanging between two hands, glissandi, scales, polyphonic and polyrhythmic passages…Yet, what is most fascinating is the fact that Liszt in Totentanz disclosed the percussive nature of the piano and presented utterly novel expressive possibilities of the instrument, thus paving the way for the composers like Bartok, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff.

Faust Symphony by Franz Liszt was inspired by the poetic drama Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), precisely its first part whose protagonists are Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. The German Faust legend about a brilliant scholar who sold his soul to the devil so that he could be young again and enjoy worldly pleasures he abstained from throughout his life, probably dates from the 16th century and it served as the basis for numerous literary, artistic, musical and film achievements. The full title of Liszt’s work – Faust Symphony in Three Character Pictures – as well as the title of movements (Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles) indicates that it was not the composer’s intention to retell Goethe’s drama. On the contrary, he focused on three main characters and rendered their “musical portraits”. Faust himself is described with as many as five thematic materials relating to various aspects of his person. The same themes, but as caricatures, furnish the basis for Mephistopheles’ musical portrait: according to Goethe, the devil is incapable of creating anything, he can only destroy; by caricaturing Faust themes Liszt presents the devil’s ability to corrupt even a person like Faust – the very Faust that God called his faithful servant in “Prologue in Heaven”. None the less, Mephistopheles is powerless before Gretchen’s innocence, so her theme (from II movement) appears unchanged, and in the end it succeeds in driving away the unholy.
Liszt completed Faust Symphony very quickly in a violent dash of inspiration in 1854, to revise it three years later. The most important alteration was the closing Mystic Choir, tranquil and solemn, composed on the original closing verses of Goethe’s Faust Second Part.
Jelena Janković


Among the most original names of Serbian music, Bojan Suđić is the chief conductor and artistic director of ensembles of Music Production of Serbian Radio and Television (RTS), as well as professor of conducting at the Music Academy in Belgrade. He is equally successful as symphonic, choir and opera conductor. With the RTS ensembles, he has interpreted a vast repertoire ranging from Palestrina and Monteverdi, to Stravinsky and Poulenc. Under his baton have been performed dozens of choir, symphonic and vocal-symphonic compositions of contemporary authors, as well as premiere modern performances and first recordings of important pieces from Serbian heritage.
“He is a natural talent with an extraordinary style and one of the most exquisite techniques I’ve ever seen” (Mats Lilleros, Huvudstadstbledat, Helsinki)
 
Dejan Lazić has performed with the renowned orchestras and conductors such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bamberger Symphoniker, Swedish Radio, Danish National, Helsinki Philharmonic Australian Chamber Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra, working with such conductors as Iván Fischer, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Giovanni Antonini, Kirill Petrenko, Robert Spano...
Dejan Lazić made his debut at the BBC Proms in summer 2011, performing two concerts. Further performances with BFO/Fischer in the current season include dates in Budapest and on tour in Gent, Milan and at the Beethovenfest Bonn. He appears also with Basel Chamber Orchestra, performing at the Vienna Konzerthaus...
He records for Channel Classics and has released a dozen critically acclaimed recordings so far. His live recording of Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 with London Philharmonic Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko received the prestigious German Echo Klassik Award 2009.

Young Hungarian tenor Peter Balczo was a finalist of the Opera Competition and Festival with Mezzo Television in 2009, which enabled him to participate in opera productions in Switzerland and Hungary, while the awards ceremony of the Competition was broadcasted live by Mezzo throughout Europe. He also won the Special Prize of the Teatro Communale di Bologna at the Puccini International Vocal Competition in Lucca, Italy in 2011. He has so far performed to acclaim the roles of Alfredo (La Traviata), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Romeo (Gounod – Romeo and Juliette) etc. at the opera houses in Hungary, Italy and Slovenia.