The reputed serial wife-slayer haunted the second half of this Prom, so we needed to open with something more life-affirming. Few works earn that description as much as Beethoven’s ebullient Symphony no. 7, especially in a performance as fine as this one. The Budapest Festival Orchestra and Chief Conductor Iván Fischer have been frequent visitors to the Proms, and their qualities are always evident and welcome. The vast height of the Royal Albert Hall was packed from stalls to gallery – quite an inspiring sight for visiting orchestral players.
Surprisingly the Seventh Symphony was written at the lowest period of Beethoven’s life, the composer even contemplating suicide. But we know this from his diaries and certainly not from his remarkable score. The Poco sostenuto opening always seems more than an introduction, and is the longest written to that date. Here its journey through remote keys seemed a quest to find the harmonic point where principal flute Gabriella Pivon could launch the main section Vivace with rhythmic precision.
That substantial beginning (exposition repeat included), was followed by a searching account of the Allegretto, its simple dactyls growing into a movement of unexpected substance. Like most fine orchestras, the BFO is built on the foundation of a superb string section. The fugato passage was built from the very quietest of beginnings, not something often attempted in this hall, and highly effective. The last movement, here less a finale than a force of nature, was greeted by a real Prommers’ roar.
Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle was first played at the Proms in 1971, sung in English. In the programme, Fischer says it “can only be performed well if the musicians understand the Hungarian language – its rhythmical freedom and declamation.” He adds “The Budapest Festival Orchestra knows this piece inside out. Every player knows the words and what they express...” This tale of a fourth wife and her new husband, whose gruesome reputation she knows, exploring her gloomy new home and opening its seven mysterious locked doors, is compelling in any competent performance. Here, it was chilling and ultimately immensely sad. Bluebeard’s previous wives are alive, and Judith must join them behind the seventh door. Bluebeard is left alone in eternal darkness.
Fischer’s point about the language must be especially true of the two soloists, and here we had two Hungarians noted for these roles, both Proms debutants. The Bluebeard of bass Krisztián Cser sounded rather gritty at times, which perhaps added to a sense of menace. But the character has sympathetic moments, not least when Judith opens door six and asks about the bright lake, learns it is all “Könnyek, Judit, könnyek, könnyek” – a lake of tears. Cser’s repetitions of “könnyek” were poignant indeed, suggesting that these tears were his own and he deeply regretted their cause. The Judith of mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng was vocally expert and histrionically persuasive in her insistence on the opening of these doors into Bluebeard’s soul.
Fischer’s claim about the BFO’s expertise in the score was justified by the way the instruments echoed and pre-echoed the vocal line. The many impressionist passages, illustrating what is behind each door and the blood also found there, were brilliantly played. The full orchestra and organ were unleashed for the fifth door, making a mighty sound. The meaning of the symbolism? (Of course it’s symbolist, what husband says “let me show you round dear, here is my torture chamber”?) One take is the impossibility of ever fully knowing someone else and every last thing about them, and the peril of attempting that degree of possession.
