Jamming with Brahms and Liszt in Café Budapest

By Mark Pullinger, 24 August 2018

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“Lendvay Jr... dispatched Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with swagger, style and smoky tone”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 23 August 2018

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 1 in C sharp minor, S 244/1

Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 1 in G minor

Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 3 in B flat major, S 244/3

Sarasate, Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), Op.20

Paganini, Introduction and variations on "Nel cor più non mi sento", Op.38 (Intro, theme & varation 7 )

Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 11 in D minor

Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in C minor, Op.68

Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 4 in F minor

József Lendvay Sr, Violin

József Lendvay Jr, Violin

Jenő Lisztes, Cimbalom

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Iván Fischer, Conductor

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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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Prom 55: Jamming with Brahms and Liszt in Café Budapest