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I had planned to attend a Haydn concert in Fertőszentmiklós, one of Prince Eszterházy’s residences during Haydn’s tenure in the prince’s service. But the prospect of two three-hour train journeys to and from Budapest, and the following three-kilometre walk from the train station to the venue (which neither public transport nor taxis serve) in some 40 Celsius temperature put a damper on my enthusiasm for Haydn in its historical environment. Instead I opted for a seemingly low-key baroque concert in Kismaros.
Kismaros lies some 56 km north of Budapest in the astonishingly beautiful Bend of the Danube. This concert in a church on a hill above Kismaros served as part of an annual baroque festival with concerts mostly in villages at the foot of the mountain Börzsöny. (I cannot report about the venues which were hosting the festival in other villages, but for sure I had to negotiate a two-kilometre walk to and from the train station of Kismaros to reach the church on the hill above it).
Admission to this afternoon concert was free, and there were a surprisingly great number of children in the audience. I expected a pleasant afternoon in beautiful surroundings, but I caught a high-quality concert fit for any venue anywhere. Violinist Márta Ábrahám, harpsichord player Miklós Spányi, and violone player György Schweigert performed works by Bach, Händel and Corelli. Ábrahám and Schweigert produced a pure tone coupled with rock-solid virtuosity —their playing in Corelli’s Follia variations was mesmerising— while Spányi’s phrasing, structural control and cantabile treatment of his percussive harpsichord could have served as a masterclass in expressive playing on a keyboard.