BÉLA BARTÓK: Four Pieces for Orchestra, Sz.51, BB 64

SÁNDOR VERESS: Violin Concerto

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SÁNDOR VERESS: Symphony No. 2 (Minneapolitana)
Introduction by the composer’s son, Claudio Veress HERE

Ilya Gringolts violin

Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Heinz Holliger   

Masters and apprentices. In this concert from Heinz Holliger and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, we will witness a conjunction of the generations. Béla Bartók was Sándor Veress’s teacher, while Veress, after emigrating to Switzerland, instructed Heinz Holliger in the art of composing. In a special guest appearance, Holliger will conduct the music of first Bartók, then Veress, placing his faith in the art of both his teacher, and his teacher’s teacher. The concert will feature three rarely heard compositions, including Veress’s Violin Concerto, which will be performed by one of the most outstanding virtuoso interpreters of our time.

Four Orchestral Pieces, which Bartók left unfinished in 1912, before returning to complete it in 1921, contains many elements of Impressionism, and today remains one of his least played works. Sándor Veress was born in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in 1917, and moved to Budapest when he was ten years old, where he became a student of Kodály and Bartók at the Liszt Academy. Later, he also came into contact with László Lajtha as a folk music researcher. In 1949, he emigrated to Switzerland, where he lived and taught until his death in 1992. He completed his Violin Concerto in 1939, while still in Hungary. His Symphony No. 2, also known as the Sinfonia Minneapolitana, was written in 1953. The world famous Swiss composer, oboist and conductor Heinz Holliger (born in 1939) attended the lessons in composition held by Sándor Veress when studying at the University of Bern – Holliger is the Hungarian teacher’s best-known pupil. The soloist for the Violin Concerto, the Russian Ilya Gringolts, was born in St. Petersburg in 1982. After beginning his studies in his hometown, he continued his education in Itzhak Perlman’s class at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He has successfully performed in various prestigious international competitions. His interests extend to historical violin playing, though he also enjoys performing contemporary works. He has been the first violin of the Gringolts Quartet since 2008.