The visit by Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra is always an event, as the conductor often defies expectations to deliver an unexpected performance. He places singers among musicians; he invites audience to sit among musicians. His orchestra sings its encore without instrumental accompaniment. Without any fanfare, Fischer strives to bring classical music closer to the audience. One detects a ubiquitous joy of making music among his mostly Hungarian members as they follow their leader. They are exceptional musicians.
For the two concerts at Carnegie Hall devoted to Béla Bartók, the double basses were placed on a low platform at the back of the stage, next to the percussion. The woodwinds were more forward and central, in front of the basses. One could experience the prominence of the woodwinds in Hungarian music, crisp and clear. That was a fitting arrangement for the second evening, which was an exposition of Hungarian and East European folk music as was recorded by Bartók and his colleagues, and its lasting impact on one of Bartók’s masterpieces, Bluebeard’s Castle. Fischer gave the audience an introduction to the history of Hungarian music, an important context of the main event.
The concert began with a reduced orchestra performing the Romanian Folk Dances, seven short dances played without a break. Three orchestral members played the original folk music on violin, viola and bass first, to set the mood. The traditional Hungarian Peasant Songs that followed featured folk singer Marta Sebestyén, who played a flute and sang an extended solo accompanied by this string trio. The orchestra then took over, the music alternating between simple and plaintive folk melodies played by woodwinds and full, sweeping melodies dominated by strings. Orchestral members even jumped in to sing at times.
As enjoyable as the first half was, the evening’s focus was Bluebeard’s Castle after the intermission. It was an astonishing and breathtaking performance, hands down the best representation of all that Bartók brought to the fairy tale couched in the musical language of his native Hungary with its centuries of tradition. Fischer himself gave the spoken introduction from the podium. He conducted with marvelous, precise control of volume and tempo. Yet the whole performance was organic and smooth; there was not a moment of slackness or any dull patches. Fischer restrained his large orchestra during the first part of the piece, as Judith, Bluebeard's bride, insisted on learning about the secrets of his castle... and perhaps his soul. The castle’s torture chamber, armory, treasury, and a secret garden, were all revealed in quiet menace as the woodwinds dominated, playing the dissonant chords with increasing anxiety and urgency. When the fifth door is opened – revealing Bluebeard's kingdom – the music acquires brilliance and grandeur. Even this relief from the incessant brooding mood was tinged with weary caution under Fischer’s guidance. By the sixth door, the pool of tears, the music acquired a sense of quiet resignation. The performance ended with a hush that was not broken for many seconds.