National tours need to start somewhere, and on Friday Las Vegas was the first stop on what is a long series of U.S. performances for the Hungarian National Philharmonic. Did it make a difference that musical director and conductor Zoltan Kocsis relaxed Thursday on a trip to the Grand Canyon? Were the musicians more enthusiastic on what amounted to opening night?
Whatever the reason, the orchestra was smooth and true to the spirit of a program of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonin Dvorak and Bela Bartok.

The evening opened with two Bartok selections, “Dance Suite” and “Five Songs” from the “20 Hungarian Folk Songs.” The first was rousing, bold and often vaguely discordant, before a conclusion reminiscent of the buzz of a big city. True to the area's multicultural beginnings, the work sometimes has a vaguely Eastern dance tempo.
The 83 musicians responded to the constant but reserved demands of their maestro, creating emotion and allowing it to simmer to a satisfying conclusion.

The second piece was inspired by a number of well-known songs included in a 1930s book series and here were sung by soprano soloist Julia Hajnoczy. She looked as if her voice might not amount to much more than a whisper. When she began, with significant volume and drama, at least one audience member whispered, “Ooooh!”
Her songs were universally emotional. Performed in Hungarian, the English translations in the program proved just how cheerless most of them were, which she demonstrated through the sadness in her voice. Occasionally, as she softened her tones, the orchestra overshadowed her words.

Mozart's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G Major, K. 453 followed. The highlight of the evening, it was performed with just about two dozen of the musicians and Kocsis at the piano, including numerous solo passages. It showed that Kocsis was deserving of the praise he has received at the keyboard, with his complex moves effortlessly mixed with his conducting from the bench each time a hand was free. His solos were well-performed, with the musicians in solid tandem, in a piece that runs the expected gamut of themes and harmonies of a Mozart piece.
After intermission, the orchestra offered Dvorak's Symphony No. 3, op. 10, in E-flat Major. Another chance for emotion, the orchestra did not disappoint, especially through the second movement's dark, funereal sections.

Julia Osborne
(Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 21, 2003)