Kirill Gerstein (piano) and the Hungarian National Philharmonic

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15

Liszt: Faust Symphony, S. 108

Featuring: Ric Furman – voice, Male Choir of Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos), Honvéd Male Choir (choirmaster: Kálmán Strausz)

Conductor: Zsolt Hamar

The Faust Symphony is one of Ferenc Liszt’s most complex compositions, a work particularly intricate in musical and philosophical terms, a serious intellectual challenge. As regards its form and concept, it is as unique a piece as the Piano Sonata in B minor.

If the Faust Symphony is a special piece of music, its relationship to the literary precedent, Goethe’s dramatic poem, also makes it unparalleled: Liszt’s is one of the most original 19th-century interpretations of Faust. Zsolt Hamar, who has demonstrated his commitment to Liszt on several occasions, now undertakes a multi-faceted, nuanced rendering of this work.

The guest soloist of the concert is Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein, who studied, among others, with Ferenc Rados and Dmitri Bashkirov. This greatly versatile artist makes his Budapest debut in the solo part of Brahms’s monumental D minor piano concerto.