Budapest Festival Orchestra
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
concertmaster János Pilz
Johann Michael Haydn
Notturno in C major, P. 108 MH 187
Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin and oboe concerto in D minor BWV 1060R
Valentina Benfenati violin
Victor Aviat oboe
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Serenade for strings in C major op. 48
«I was somewhat restless and rather unwell… Today I busied myself with my Serenade, and immediately began to feel cheerful, well and relaxed». This is how Tchaikovsky recounted the genesis of one of the most splendid gems in his catalogue, polished according to the expressive formulas of Classicism into a mental space where his restless soul could be at peace. This logic, musical order, clarity and balance are the same traits that we find in the Concerto for Violin and Oboe by Bach, who had already absorbed the lesson of Vivaldi, and in the rare Nocturne by Johann Michael Haydn, the younger brother of the more famous Joseph, with whom he disputed the paternity of this small masterpiece of refined entertainment that brings us back to the atmosphere of late XVIII century Mitteleuropa.
