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Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival

Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival.

Memorable performances from the Proms season of classical concerts, recorded in the unique atmosphere of the Royal Albert Hall in London.

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2018: Budapest Festival Orchestra

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Hungarian violinists József Csócsi Lendvai and József Lendvay

08/09/2018 GMT

Budapest Festival Orchestra

BBC Proms 2018

BBC World Service - BBC Proms on the World Service, BBC Proms 2018, Budapest Festival Orchestra

Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra explore the spirit of Hungarian music.

Renowned conductor Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra lead a programme exploring the spirit of Hungarian music.

In this concert renowned conductor Iván Fischer and his critically acclaimed Budapest Festival Orchestra are joined by a small Gypsy band led by violinist József Lendvay Sr., in a programme exploring the spirit of Hungarian music, as seen through the eyes of three 19th-Century composers: Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Pablo de Sarasate. Hungarian folk tunes mixed with gypsy rhythms to create an intoxicating blend of dances and rhapsodies, like the ones we’re hearing in this Prom, which became so popular during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Central Europe, that they even managed to crawl into the repertoire of Classical Music’s big symphony orchestra. While Liszt was Hungarian himself and always found inspiration in the music of his fatherland, Brahms loved the gypsy music he heard with increasing confidence in his adopted Vienna, and used it in some of his festive pieces. The Spanish Pablo de Sarasate completes the picture with his Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), only to testify how popular these local tunes and rhythms had become well beyond the boundaries of Hungary.
 
Presenter Suzy Klein is joined by 19th-Century music expert Nicholas Baragwanath to discuss the repertoire and its cultural context.

Image: Hungarian violinists József Csócsi Lendvai and József Lendvay perform Brahms with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under conductor Iván Fischer (Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou)

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2018

Highlights from the 2018 season of BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival.

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