12. Twelve Seasons

Zoltán Fejérvári was to make his first visit to Bantry this summer as were many others in our programme. His performance comes to us from Budapest, another city famous for music. He has chosen to play Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, a set of a dozen short piano pieces, one for each month in the year. They were commissioned by a St Petersburg magazine publisher with the idea of printing a new score each month. It did not quite work out like that. The first few months went smoothly but then Tchaikovsky had to focus on orchestrating Swan Lake ahead of a performance deadline. The last seven months were composed together to the benefit of the later pieces. Each month was given a sentimental title by the publisher. Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin harks back to eighteenth century France with Baroque movement headings like Prélude, Forlane, Rigaudon and Toccata. Ravel described the work as a homage to the whole of eighteenth century French music. After the First World War Ravel dedicated each of the six pieces to a friend who had been killed in the field, while the great French pianist, Alfred Cortot, wrote: ‘No glorious monument could honour the memory of the French better than do these luminous melodies, these rhythms which are at the same time both distinct and flexible – a perfect expression of our culture and of our tradition.’

This concert is generously support by the Embassy of Hungary, Dublin. https://dublin.mfa.gov.hu/eng

12. Twelve Seasons_Programme Notes

Visit the OCL event page for more booking details

European Broadcast 8pm Irish Standard Time
North American Broadcast 8pm ET (1am Irish Standard Time)

On Demand will become available after the conclusion of the North American broadcast for 48 hours (21 June 2am – 23 June 2am IST)

All works performed by Zoltán Fejérvári