Saturday Night Fever

a Saturday night fashion extravaganza outside the Opera House, Budapest

Translated from the Hungarian, The Palace of Arts has something of a Stalinesque ring to its name. And although firmly cemented in the twenty-first century, for it was opened in 2005, its architectural style does, to our eyes at least, draw heavily on the Socialist Realism of the past. But that is by the way.

Gergó Teleki plays Liszt at The Palace of Arts on a September late afternoon

So it was that last weekend saw us at The Palace of Arts, as we so often are, this time for a piano recital given in the Glass Hall by our friend, and concert pianist, Gergó Teleki. The recipient of numerous international awards, and having given his first major concert at the early age of just thirteen, Gergó delighted his audience on this September afternoon with a programme of Liszt to include two of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, No. 2 and No. 6, both played with passion and enormous technical virtuosity, as well as the wonderfully atmospheric and startling Mephisto Waltz No. 1.

dancing here as Jack o' Lantern to the music of Liszt is Richárd Gábor Szakács

But we were to be surprised further. For the Transcendental Étude No. 5, notoriously difficult to play, was interpreted in dance by the young graduate of The Hungarian Dance Academy, Richárd Gábor Szakács. We were entranced. As were we all as Richárd, now the Will o' the Wisp, moved to the music with an authority, a confidence and control which left us spellbound and in awe of such agility and grace. Afterwards we were introduced to this Jack o' Lantern; he will come to drinks this week.

self portrait by Robert Mapplethorpe 

self portrait by Robert Mapplethorpe

From the concert hall to the exhibition rooms where we had promised ourselves to revisit the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, the iconic and controversial photographer of the 1970s and 1980s. And whilst we were not disappointed we felt that, on balance, this large show was, somehow, less successful than the smaller exhibition which we saw at The Towner Gallery, Eastbourne last year. Here were the two very distinct sides to this artist, here the portraits, the flower studies, the homoerotic works but, perhaps too full of Liszt's music, we left strangely unmoved.

interior of 'M', a favourite Budapest restaurant of ours 

Dinner at a favourite bistro type restaurant was, as always, deliciously satisfying and, since we are known, there is always the pleasure of a personal greeting. The wall coverings, drawn by a Serbian artist, never cease to fascinate and amuse us with their instances of humour and the absurd.

the exterior of the Budapest State Opera House on Saturday night

But night's candles were not yet burnt out. For before the Opera House an extravaganza of light, music and fashion had drawn the crowds to an outside stage where, interspersed with arias, models, men and women, strutted the catwalk wearing the latest of Hungarian design. A fantasy of the fantastic!

N.B. Images, with the exception of that of the interior of the restaurant, are taken from a variety of internet sources. We shall be pleased to credit them.