Igor Levit | Piano |
Ákos Ács | Clarinet |
Budapest Festival Orchestra | |
Iván Fischer | Conductor |
The ‘truly special’ Hungarian orchestra and its founder-conductor conjure musical magic in a celebration of Prokofiev, culminating in dances from his ballet Cinderella.
This concert is devoted to the mesmerising, fairy-tale music of Sergei Prokofiev.
After the stirring Overture on Hebrew Themes, award-winning pianist Igor Levit is the soloist in the mercurial Piano Concerto No.3.
Finally we hear extracts from the composer’s bittersweet ballet score Cinderella, ready to live happily ever after.
Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra (‘truly special’, according to the New York Times) have always been in the vanguard of musical adventurers.
The musicians have played open-air concerts in their home city for everyone to dance to, asked the audience to choose the programme by vote, or turned into a choir for a sung encore.
The BFO was Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2022 and its recordings with Fischer have won the Diapason d’Or award and two Grammy nominations.