In 1933, at the time of the Great Depression, Hungarian musician Rezső Seress wrote the hit Gloomy Sunday, which soon became world famous. In connection with the adhering urban legends, the song is known as a Hungarian Suicide Song. The title of this song was borrowed by Gergely Vajda’s new orchestral composition, which was premiered on February 11 by the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Grand Hall of the Budapest Academy of Music.

Three compositions by Gergely Vajda, Clarinet Symphony for two clarinets and orchestra, Alice Études for clarinet and string quartet, and Persistent Dreams for solo clarinet, have been recorded on a new CD, released by the Budapest Music Center Records. This offered the occasion to ask Gergely Vajda about his versatility.

 Clarinettist, composer, conductor – you have all these in your biography. Which is your priority order of these three “c”-s?

I don’t want to offend conductors or instrumentalists but I think creating something from nothing is probably the “king” of all activities, that’s how you can get closest to “Creation” as a human being.

Gergely Vajda composer, conductor has been awarded the prestigious Bartók-Pásztory Prize of 2018, donated by the Budapest Music Academy. Gergely Vajda's quintet for clarinet and strings, Alice études, inspired by Lewis Carroll's books, has recently appeared in our catalogue. Two stage works of the composer will be performed in the following months: his opera Barbie Blue will have a concert performance on June 5 in Budapest, and his puppet opera The Giant Baby will be premiered at the Armel Festival on 3 July in Vienna and then, on 7 July in Budapest.

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony will perform a program of Hungarian compositions on 5th May. The title of the concert is 'Eötvös’ Ungarn', and it is a part of the three year cooperation in which Péter Eötvös participates as curator in the work of the orchestra.