On the banks of the beautiful Danube

Just returned from beautiful Budapest and its glorious Liszt Academy Solti Hall. We got a great response to a challenging programme - including Beethoven 131 and Zemlinsky 2 - from an audience which seemed well able to handle the challenge. Their rhythmic hand clapping which seems to go through a series of complicated pattern changes, like a Kodaly Method training exercise, is wonderful to be on the receiving end of! What an amazingly vibrant cultural tradition this city holds. Sight-seeing the morning after the concert, up the funicular to the incredible views from the castle and a warming coffee and apple tart in the ramparts cafe to escape the icy wind, I was inspired by the sense of history at this crossroad of central Europe… And yet, speaking to locals, I got a real sense of loss that entry into the new Europe has somehow taken a little of the identity and heart out of this place, and certainly many of its young people seeking jobs elsewhere, leaving it somehow feeling empty and tired. Hopefully as the dust settles it will recover and rediscover its national identity and pride.