Budapest Festival Orchestra / Fischer review – palpable joy in a vivid Prom pairing of Beethoven and Bluebeard

Royal Albert Hall, London Conductor Iván Fischer and his players teased out the tiny details in a stirring Seventh Symphony, while Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle was full of grisly Hungarian intensityBeethoven’s jubilant Seventh Symphony and a psychodrama about serial polygamy may seem curious bedfellows, but when the band is as good as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, who cares? This was the 19th Proms appearance of the ensemble founded by Iván Fischer and the late Zoltán Kocsis in 1983, and like the finest of Hungarian reds they have matured splendidly.Chief among many virtues was the visible sense of camaraderie, that and the palpable joy they brought to the music-making, no matter how familiar the fare. These musicians must have played No 7 countless times, yet still it came up fresh as a daisy. There was the opulent string tone, bows digging deep as if the performers’ lives depended on it. Brass and woodwind players seemed born soloists, yet each visibly embraced the team spirit. And then there was Fischer, a model of elegance, coaxing and cajoling while teasing out those tiny details that lent the music spontaneity and vitality. In a truly memorable performance, the seamless flow and Fischer’s dynamic control of the Allegretto stood out, every instrumental line crystal clear (no mean feat given the Albert Hall’s soupy acoustic). Ditto the frisky scherzo, light and airy as a good souffle. Continue reading...

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Five stars for Iván Fischer’s dazzling Budapest Festival Orchestra at the BBC Proms — review

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