Consortium Aurora Borealis is pleased to transport you to a country and an era we rarely visit. With our “Hungarian Strings” concert, we turn our attention to Hungary, presenting some truly beautiful Romantic and folk-influenced music for strings. It takes place the day after Valentine’s. Since our music is infused with the spirit of Late Romanticism, it may well be the ideal post-Valentine’s Day concert! The music is warm and intimate, played by a superb, stylish string trio.
Versatile Katie Stevens, TBSO’s Assistant Concertmaster, recently wowed everyone with her jazz violin playing in Martin Blanchet Jazz Quintet’s Café Paris concert. She shines in the classical music world, and will be joined by our long-time violist Patrick Horn and charismatic cellist Peter Cosbey. They’ll deliver what promises to be an outstanding concert.
We introduce some musical gems which otherwise would not be heard in town. The music was composed by Hungary’s chief composers of the early 1900s, Ernst von Dohnányi, Béla Bartók, and Zoltán Kodály, born five years apart. All were students, then faculty, at Budapest’s prestigious Franz Liszt Music Academy. We’ll hear a string trio at the beginning and end of the evening, with an unaccompanied cello sonata and violin-viola duos sandwiched in between, for stylistic and textural contrast.
Part One is devoted to the music of Zoltán Kodály, composer, ethnomusicologist, music educator, linguist, and life-long friend of Bartók. He enjoyed a great national and international reputation, famous throughout the world for his ‘Kodály Method’, which championed a child-developmentally appropriate manner of teaching music. It emphasized listening, singing, and rhythmic movement, incorporating games, dance, and authentic folk music.
We begin with Kodály’s short, one-movement Intermezzo for string trio, written in his youth when he was 23 years old. It’s a relaxed serenade in late-Romantic style. An anonymous writer commented that it “sounds rather like Dvořák with a slight Hungarian accent”, as it includes the influence of Hungarian folk tunes. It was composed in 1905, when Kodály was setting off to collect and record genuine folk melodies from small villages around the countryside, which he would incorporate into his music.
Kodály’s passionate unaccompanied cello sonata in B minor, Opus 8, written in 1915, is eminently suited to the performing style of our solo cellist, with its virtuosic elements. New techniques include playing melodies with three fingers while the others pluck chords! This is the first significant solo cello work written after Bach’s six monumental cello suites, and is a musically and technically challenging masterpiece. The instrument is tuned in scordatura, with the lower two strings tuned down a half step, making playing of unusual chords possible, and affecting timbre.
Kodály uses the terms appassionato, con gran espressione, and molto vivace to indicate the manner of performance. Movement two evokes the human voice, drawing on Hungarian folk songs in keeping with our theme. The final movement evokes Hungarian instruments and dance, with military overtones. The sonata is indebted to French-Impressionist Debussy and the music of Bartók. Kodály declared that “in 25 years no cellist will be accepted who has not played it”. It’s now standard repertoire, and a set piece at competitions.
Next come seven of the forty-four miniature Béla Bartók duos for violin and viola, written as didactic works for students, advancing in difficulty: ‘Ruthenian Song’, ‘Ruthenian Kolomejka’, ‘Sorrow’, ‘Wallachian Dance’, ‘New Year’s Song’, ‘Counting Song’, and ‘Arabian Song’. They lean on Hungarian folk tunes, original melodies transformed by Bartók.
Dohnányi’s tour-de-force, five-movement Serenade for string trio rounds off the evening. It was regarded as one of his best works, despite being written at age 25, and was composed in the Romantic idiom. It presents a lively march, a serenade-like romanza with guitar-like plucked-string accompaniment, a scherzo with fugue, a hymn-like theme and variations, and a rollicking rondo. The march recurs at the end. Dohnányi’s style was conservative and influenced by Brahms. He was a composer, conductor, brilliant concert pianist, and a very influential figure in Hungarian musical life.
Our concert is generously sponsored by Lynn Barber. There will be a draw at intermission for two tickets to the TBSO‘s “Melody and Magic” concert of April 4, in the Voices series. It’s a $100 value.
I end with a quote by Kodály: Music “gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Music is an anchor for the mind, body, and soul…it has the power to transform lives.”
All three of the Hungarian Strings artists have been engaged to play in four out of the seven concerts in our 2024-2025 season.
47th Season Passes for 2025-26 may now be ordered. They’re transferable! Pay later if you wish. There is no price increase: 7 great concerts for $150; students $90. That’s one free concert!
They all take place on Saturdays at St. Paul’s United Church at 7:30 PM.
To order: Sign up at a concert, call 807 768-7420, or email us at: inquiries@consortiumab.org.
People purchasing by June 30 will be entered in an Early Bird Draw!
Here are our dates. We would love you to subscribe!
September 6, 2025: Peter Cosbey, cello; Martin Blanchet, double bass
September 27, 2025: Baroque String Chamber Music
November 2025 TBA: Flutists Penelope Clarke, Doris Dungan; Peter Cosbey January 10, 2026: Classic & Romantic String Quintets
March 21, 2026: Virtuoso violinist Jeremy Bell in Vivaldi & Locatell
May 9, 2026: Matt Sellick In Concert, flamenco guitar
February or April, 2026 TBA: Tamarack Wind Quintet
By becoming a subscriber you will be spared the trouble of searching for cash at the door, there is a fast-track entrance for subscribers, which facilitates things, plus you save a bit of money. You’ll also have the pleasure of knowing that you are supporting Consortium Aurora Borealis, so that we may continue bringing exceptional chamber music concerts music to Thunder Bay!
For our next concert, we present an exhilarating evening of Dazzling Italian Baroque Arias, as special guest Irina Medvedeva brings her flexible, supple, yet powerful soprano voice to wow and delight us, with gorgeous music from 18th-century opera and motet by Vivaldi, Handel, and Hasse. Moods will range from gentle, lyrical and pastoral to passionate, dramatic and fiery, with virtuosic display!
Irina will be joined by violinists William Sirois and James Moat, violist Patrick Horn, cellist Peter Cosbey, and harpsichordist Elizabeth Ganiatsos, who will collectively amaze you through this extraordinary concert! As usual, there will be a ballot draw at intermission for a special prize. I’ll be in town to perform in it, and hope to see you there!
Saturday, March 15, 7:30 PM at St. Paul’s United Church.
But in order to make this concert possible, we urgently need the use of a suitable, closed vehicle to move the harpsichord from a nearby house to the church. We need a 7-foot 10-inch clearance, although the narrow end could poke through in between the two front seats of a van or station wagon.
Pick-up at the house is on Friday, March 14 (details of location upon request). The crew will gather at St. Paul’s United Church on Sunday, March 16 at noon to return it.
If you can help us, or have any leads, please speak to Hilda Postenka (our Consortium President), contact us through inquiries@consortiumab.org or 807 768-7420, and leave a message.
Many thanks! It is crucial that we locate a vehicle!
I now pass on a few more interesting Zoltán Kodály quotations I found:
With music, one’s whole future life is brightened. This is such a treasure in life that it helps us over many troubles and difficulties. Music is nourishment, a comforting elixir. Music multiplies all that is beautiful and of value in life.
There is no complete spiritual life without music, for the human soul has regions which can be illuminated only by music.
Music is a manifestation of the human spirit, similar to language. Its greatest practitioners have conveyed to mankind things not possible to say in any other language. If we do not want these things to remain dead treasures, we must do our utmost to make the greatest possible number of people understand their idiom.
Music is nourishment, and a comforting elixir. Music multiplies the beauty of life and all its values.
Real art is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible to as many people as possible is a benefactor of humanity.
It is our firm conviction that mankind will live the happier when it has learned to live with music more worthily. Whoever works to promote this end, in one way or another, has not lived in vain.
Music is the fuel of the soul, and it has the power to transform lives.
We can take all these beautiful quotations to heart.
Thanks to all of you for your interest in our musical offerings, and for your support!
Warmly,
Elizabeth