Musical fireworks by Nikolai Lugansky and the Budapest Festival Orchestra

By Olga de Kort, 04 March 2016

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“a homogeneous programme full of musical discoveries”

Reviewed at Müpa: Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Budapest on 25 February 2016

Shostakovich, Music to the play Hamlet by Shakespeare, Op.32

Prokofiev, Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor, Op.16

Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 2 in C minor "Little Russian", Op.17

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Gábor Takács-Nagy, Conductor

Nikolai Lugansky, Piano

Clarity and communion in Budapest Festival Orchestra’s Mahler 3

Michelle Assay, 12th February

On the final leg of their North American tour, the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s Mahler proves a a transformative experience within the intimate setting of Toronto’s Koerner Hall.

*****

Budapest Festival Orchestra plays – and sings – at Carnegie Hall

Susan Stempleski, 6th February

Joined by violinist Maxim Vengerov, the Hungarian orchestra, under Music Director Iván Fischer, is in top form in a program of three highly contrasting pieces.

****1

Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 11th November

Iván Fischer and Alina Ibragimova transform familiar works into a vivid experience. From Beethoven’s Violin Concerto to Strauss’ Josephs Legende, the orchestra dazzles with colour, energy and cinematic intensity.

****1

Unseduced: Don Giovanni opens the Budapest Festival Orchestra season

Orsolya Gyárfás, 9th September

Iván Fischer's reworking of his 2017 production of Don Giovanni is musically capable, but dramatically unconvincing.

***11

Bluebeard at the Proms with Iván Fischer and the BFO

Roy Westbrook, 6th August

The evening starts with life-affirming Beethoven – and then, the Budapest Festival Orchestra demonstrate just how good native Hungarians can be in Bartók’s chiller.

*****

Earth-shattering Mahler 2 from the Budapest FO at the Mahler Festival

Clare Varney, 11th May

As part of the Concertgebouw's ambitious Mahler Festival, Christiane Karg, Anna Lucia Richter and the Netherlands Radio Choir join the Budapest Festival Orchestra for the Resurrection Symphony.

*****

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Olga de Kort

Musicologist and music critic Olga de Kort (The Netherlands) studied in Russia (piano, culture sciences), France (journalism) and the Netherlands (musicology and music history, music education and communication, organ) where she has lived from 1998. She is active as a music journalist, lecturer in music history and culture and as a freelance musician. She writes for Piano Bulletin, Pianist, Luister, Preludium, De Klank, Het Orgel, Muziek&Liturgie, Kunstzone and Bachtrack. Besides her personal journalist blog, Olga de Kort has a website about Russian music in the Netherlands. At this moment she is working on a book about Russian music and musicians in the Netherlands and on a biography of Russian singer Anna El Tour.