How many meanings can a genre name, suite, hide?

The audience may ponder this question at the third concert of the National Philharmonic Orchestra's Lukács Season. Under the baton of Máté Szabó Sipos, the program begins with Antonín Dvořák’s Czech Suite, composed in 1879: here, the national character is the defining element, as the suite features Czech dances such as the Sousedská and the Furiant.

In the second part, the orchestra will perform Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite (1898), which is based on music for Maurice Maeterlinck's symbolist play, and consists of orchestral excerpts that serve as a stage accompaniment.

Finally, the concert concludes with Claude Debussy's Petite Suite (1886/89), originally composed as a cycle of piano pieces. The four movements are character pieces with evocative, pictorial spirits, reflected in the titles: En Bateau (On the Boat), Cortège (Procession), Menuet, and Ballet. Before the intermission, the audience will also hear a contemporary Hungarian work by Zoltán Kovács: his Dream Dances, a clarinet concerto, with clarinetist Gábor Varga as the soloist.

Program:

Antonín DVOŘÁK: Czech Suite, Op. 39

Zoltán KOVÁCS: Dream Dances – Clarinet Concerto with String Orchestra

--- Intermission ---

Gabriel FAURÉ: Pelléas et Mélisande – Suite, Op. 80

Claude DEBUSSY: Petite Suite (Arranged by Henri Büsser)

Featuring:

Gábor VARGA – Clarinet

National Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: Máté SZABÓ SIPOS

Organizer: National Philharmonic Orchestra

Featured Image – Máté Szabó Sipos

Event Sponsor: Hungarian Academy of Arts