Myths and Gods - The storehouse of memory by Williams, John, Holst, Mendelssohn, Szentpáli, Mahler, Wagner, Richard, -tól (2023/2023), Karmester Gábor Werner, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Budapest, Hungary

This concert by the Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra offers some insight into the world of myths. The first part kicks off with the cult music of a modern myth, which draws a great deal from the composers appearing in the second part of the concert, Wagner, Mahler and Holst, while remaining at the same time, a modern interpretation of an ancient mythical story. In the second part of the evening, the Ballet Company of Győr presents a dance drama titled Game of the Gods. Also based on myths, this work choreographed by László Velekei centres on the idea that for deities unexposed to the finite nature of existence, life is merely a game with no real stakes. Although their faults, virtues and characters are very human, no shadow of finiteness or irreversibility is cast on their fights, loves and quarrels. Perhaps this is why the tragedy-laden world of mortals does not affect them either: for them, it is merely a matter of collateral damage. For the most part, they live their capricious lives in the comfort of immortality, ignoring us mortals and instead creating the confusion, traumas, cataclysms and beauties of life on earth. But let us not forget that the gods were the product of man's imagination. They exist in order to explain the existence of the world. Therefore, when they leave us, does this not mean that we ourselves are breaking away from the essence of creation? Was it not in order to preserve for us an important slice of the world we considered valuable that we made them immortal?