The New Zealand Herald Premier Series: Tall Tales
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Conductor Gilbert Varga
Violin Clara-Jumi Kang
Cimbalom Jenő Lisztes
Kodály Háry János: Suite
Jenő Lisztes Improvisation for Cimbalom
John Adams Scheherazade.2
A concert of storytelling. Kodály’s operetta concerns the heroic adventures of a Hungarian peasant… and if Háry János perhaps exaggerates a bit (did he really capture Napoleon single-handedly?), then what’s wrong with that?
Central to the piece is the sound of the cimbalom, the Hungarian zither. It’s a notoriously difficult instrument and Jenő Lisztes’ virtuosity is totally breathtaking.
Inspired by the Tales of the 1001 Nights, John Adams riffed on Rimsky- Korsakov in a ‘dramatic symphony’ for violin and orchestra about ‘a Scheherazade in our own time’, ending with ‘escape, flight, and sanctuary’ from the barbaric men subjugating her.