The Hungarian National Philharmonic inaugurates this Saturday its annual series of Beethoven-themed concerts in the park of Brunszvik Castle, some 30 kilometres southwest of Budapest. Brunszvik Castle, a Baroque structure rebuilt in 1875 in English Neo-Gothic style, now home to the Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, was originally built for the Brunszvik (or Brunswick) family. That the German composer Beethoven was a close friend and frequent guest of the family explains both the presence of a Beethoven Memorial Museum on the grounds, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s association with the castle since it first gave a concert there in 1958 at the unveiling of a statue of Beethoven,
Brunszvik Castle sits among 70 hectares of English-style landscaped park, a nature conservation area since 1953, which provides the setting for the three outdoor concerts to be held over the next three Saturdays. This Saturday’s concert starts with Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No.3, one of several overtures written for his opera Fidelio. The orchestra will then be joined, variously, by pianist Fülöp Dezsõ for a performance of the Piano Concerto in B-flat major, and by the National Choir, Children’s Choir and soloists Tünde Szabóki, Andrea Csereklyei, István Horváth and Krisztián Cser for Der glorreiche Augenblick (The Glorious Moment), a cantata written 200 years ago as European powers convened for the Vienna Congress to write a new map of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon.
The programme for 27 July features the Coriolan Overture, Symphony No. 1 in C major and Mass in C major.
Two symphonies, No. 8 in F major and No. 5 in C minor, and two Romances for violin, in F major and G major (violin: Katalin Kokas), close the concert series on 3 August.
Open-air Beethoven concerts
Saturdays 20 and 27 July and 3 August at 7pm
Brunszvik Castle, Martonvásár
Tickets HUF 2,100-4,000 available at the Palace of Arts Box Office (District IX, Komor Marcell u. 1. Open daily 10am-6pm), on www.jegy.hu or on www.filharmonikusok.hu.
Getting there
By car: M7 towards Balaton, exit 30.
By train: Regular trains from and to Déli station. The 40-minute journey costs HUF 650 (http://elvira.mav-start.hu/). Brunszvik Castle is one kilometre away on Brunszvik út.
Note: Concerts start at 7pm and are preceded by chamber music from 5.30pm. In case of rain the concerts take place on the following day.