Well today was our last full day in Budapest. we leave tomorrow for Istanbul. through Frankfurt. just after the terrorist arrests and the threat of an imminent event at the Frankfurt airport. security will be very tight probably, but we have 6 hours in Frankfurt and surely can get through in that time.
we went to a shopping mall today in the center of town. called the West End Mall. it had very nice stores, inclusing many very nice shoe stores. we did not buy much , but looked a lot.
then tonight we went to a concert at the new concert hall. the music was compősed by zoltan kodaly ( pronounced co-die). He was a Hungarian composer who died about 40 years ago. he and bela bartok were buds, and went around the country collecting folk tunes, which they set as pieces for choir and orchestra and other combos of instruments. The concert was exceptional. first a number of his songs were performed by a girls choir from a nearby town. they were wonderful, wore ethnic costumes , had clear pretty voices, wonderfully directed, and it was a real treat to hear them. Then there was a solo cello performer who played another piece by Kodaly, which was modern, and a little long, but he was a virtuoso and it was a treat to hear him play. then there was intermission. I always think it interesting to see how they do intermission in different cities. in budapest they have all kinds of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, and these huge pretzel shaped breads. not really pretzels, because they were not chewy, more like a light bread or a pastry.
in the second half the orchestra played one piece which was tunes from a musical based on an epic poem about a traveller from hungary who roamed the world. it was wonderful. they had 5 bass players, and someone who played the hammered dulcimer, plus a bunch of other outstanding musicians. after that piece they played 'dances from gallant', a town in hungary.
well tommorrow we will be on the road, and not likely to get to a computer. maybe the next time I will be able to download some pictures
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment