Budapest Under Water

OK, I exaggerate, but I thought I’d show you some pictures of the Danube at its highest point, like, ever.

It strikes me as a little odd that I would never have known about this if it weren’t for my “Budapest” feed on Flickr. True, it looks like no one’s life is in danger, but sheesh!

Some more great pictures here, here, and here.

Oh, parenthetically, speaking of things the American press isn’t really addressing, what’s going on in Belarus is more interesting and important than CNN would have you believe. For detail and depth, please visit my friend Garth.

(Thanks to Mark Richards in Budapest for the use of the photo above.)

About the Concert, Finally

I’m back home for good now, and have finally had time to put my thoughts together around my latest premiere, which took place on November 18th in Budapest.

Into the Future

There’s too much to say in one post about this Budapest trip and the premiere, plus I’m not at home this week. So, I’m going to try to drop a few tidbits here and there as I get the odd opportunity.

Visiting Budapest after 13 years was wonderful and surreal. I’d been reading up on it recently, and had come to expect drastic changes, but I was very relieved to observe that in fact very little had changed. Sure, there were a lot more shiny stores and a lot more in the way of conveniences, and yes many of the buildings had been spruced up. But, being there still felt exactly the same; people on the street looked exactly the same, if perhaps a bit younger and happier.

A building I lived in for about 6 months in 1990

My memories of my three years there in the early 90′s are so unbelievably vivid that the experience was a bit like what it must be like to travel into the future. Suddenly, the lousy state-owned Russian restaurant on Andr�ssy �t wasn’t there anymore, replaced by a Chinese restaurant. Suddenly the Blue Metro line had become extremely rundown. Suddenly, there were a great many interesting, well-lit, well-decorated restaurants and bars all around the city. Suddenly, there were people out and about at all hours.

It was also a surprise how immediately I felt right at home — like I’d never left. By Thursday I was pretty much thinking in Hungarian again, which was nice. I’d been brushing up over the past year or so (coincidentally to this commission). But I found myself in some very strange situations. For example, one day a woman approached me on the street asking if I had change for the parking meter. I had no trouble understanding what she wanted, or even responding (which would have been a problem up until about a year ago). The trouble was that I didn’t know the new coinage! Here was this foreign guy, clearly having been in Budapest and understanding the language, but acting like a tourist with the money. She must have thought I was nuts.

More observations and anecdotes coming soon…

Much to Report

I’m back, and the whole thing was a huge success.

There are many details I’d like to share, but no time right now. I will be fleshing out this post, but it might not happen this week. Off to D.C. for Thanksgiving. Sigh.

Culture shock

Eh, not really. Budapest hasn’t changed as much as I’d expected. And I’m very glad.

Just came from a rehearsal. Words cannot describe how good it is to hear live instruments playing what you’ve only heard in your head or via MIDI playback. A few tempo disputes, which we’ll surely settle over a few rounds of p�linka later on. Otherwise, hooray!

I’m sitting in an airless, smokey flourescent-lit internet caf�. Must go now. Must ….. breathe…. air…..

UPDATE: Here is said internet cafe. The the right of it is Budapest’s first Burger King, which opened when I lived here around 1991. It was said to be the largest Burger King in the world at the time. Shrug. It had wonderfully tacky decor. I must go and see if they’ve toned it down.

Hungarian Republic Day

On this day in 1956, what began as a small student demonstration snowballed into a national uprising. The students were joined 100,000 angry citizens as they marched to more impromptu demonstrations at various sites around Budapest. At the Parliament building they were met by Soviet tanks who fired on the crowd. The demonstrations then escalated into street battles between average citizens with Molotov cocktails and a force of Hungarian security police and the Soviet army.

In response, the Hungarian Communist Party installed a new Prime Minster, Imre Nagy, who they believed would placate the people to a degree. Nagy almost immediately announced plans to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and hold multi-party elections. On November 4th, the Soviet Union sent tanks and airstrikes to take back control of Hungary. Nagy, who had taken assylum at the Yugoslav embassy, was tricked into surrendering (they promised him safe passage out of Hungary), and eventually executed.

The political circumstances and the events of these eleven days were too complicated to describe in detail here. However, dozens of good books have been written about what happened in Hungary in 1956.

Fast forward…

I went to Budapest in September, 1989 for what would be a three-year adventure in cake consumption (oh, and composition lessons too, I guess). On October 23rd, I had only been in Budapest for about six weeks. That evening, a crowd gathered in front of the Parliament building, where police had fired on the crowd 33 years earlier, and quietly held candles as they received the news that the People’s Republic of Hungary was now to be known simply as the “Republic of Hungary”, and that national multi-party elections would be held in May, 1990. During the next three years, I got to witness up close the beginning of an amazing transformation.

Until 1989, the 1956 uprising was never discussed officially. The official line was to clear your throat and stare at the floor while mumbling something about a “counterrevolutionary incident”. But starting in 1989, the uprising was officially acknowledged, and now October 23rd is a national holiday.

….

(Photo from Flickr.com)

Details on the Budapest concert

Since the beginning of August, I’ve been working on a new piece for the Hungarian Chamber Symphony Orchestra. It will be a fifteen-minute piece for strings, and the title is Letter to Hungary. With this concert, the HCSO is launching their “American Composers’ Podium”, a series of concerts and hopefully other events that will help promote the work of American composers among Hungarian audiences.

The concert will take place on November 18th at the Italian Institute in Budapest. Other composers featured will be Malcolm Hawkins and Sara Doncaster. You can read full details on the American Composers Podium on the HCSO’s stunning new web site .