With such a wide variety of cultural activities and so many glamorous venues to be explored, it’s easy to forget that there are other musical events which are not so widely publicized but can be equally rewarding. If you are in any doubt, just stroll into your local church, and if that happens to be St. Stephen’s Basilica, consider it a bonus. Cathedrals, like concert halls, have to make their way and performances by professional ensembles are not gratis, but there are also free recitals and concerts which are worth attention. Be warned though, if you choose a free concert, the venue remains open to the public (they are, after all, tourist attractions as well as places of worship), and you just have to live with the flashing cameras and background babble of those who don’t know any better. Put that behind you, and you are in for some treats.
On Saturday afternoon (November 7th) the Basilica offered a free choral concert by two Scandinavian Choirs of considerable merit, performing material rarely heard in these parts and deserving of attention. In the first half, we had the Gundsoe Choir from Denmark, under Bente Hanke, followed by the Tyresö Chamber Choir from Sweden, conducted by Mathias Kjellgren. The first part was an entirely Danish affair. Niels Gade figured prominently with three short works, of which his setting of the Benedictus was especially touching. There was Nielsen, of course – a short setting of Gruntntvig, charming enough, and his lesser known compatriot, the pleasantly compelling Knud Jepesen. Short works by three living composers, Anders Öhrwall, Michael Bojesen and Niels la Cour, may have been somewhat conservative for some tastes but beautifully crafted and delivered. Two pieces by Bjørn Hjelmborg – not to be confused with the prolific Danish composer Vagn Holmboe – made up the half and, while one would hesitate to list him among the masters of the twentieth century, he certainly deserves more attention that he receives.
The Swedish choir was a touch more cosmopolitan. After a couple of settings of folksongs arranged by Hugo Alfvén (another Scandinavian composer strangely neglected outside his homeland), we were in more familiar territory. Grieg’s charming setting of Ave Maris Stella, Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Elagr’s Ave Verum Corpus were given with sensitivity and subtlety, and the concert ended with two pieces by Gustaf Nordqvist.
Who – I hear you ask? Well exactly. Ask music lovers who they are passionate about and you will hear resounding shouts of Grieg and Sibelius, followed by a few mentions of Nielsen, a couple of muttered mentions of Lindberg or Rautavaara, and then it goes oddly silent. Scandinavian music is a rich vein which has barely been scratched by the rest of Europe and deserves much greater attention. We should be especially pleased to note that the Budapest Festival Orchestra will be including Rautavaara in next year’s concerts – which you can hear in Stuttgart or Lichtenstein but not, it seems, in Hungary.
St. Stephen’s Basilica
1051 Budapest, Hercegprímás utca 7.
www.bazilika.biz