“This was the highlight of our week,” and “We loved the entire programme! Iván Fischer was phenomenal: he knew how to capture the attention of the audience, which enabled adults and children alike to enjoy the concert.” This was just some of the feedback the Budapest Festival Orchestra received following their first autism-friendly concert in New York, part of a series launched in Hungary three years ago together with the Nemzetközi Cseperedő Alapítvány (an International Foundation to support children and their families living with autism).
The New York Times said they were looking forward to “incomparable Hungarian forces” at the Lincoln Center the following day, hailing the orchestra as “one of the finest and most consistently interesting teams operating today.” Concertonet critic, Frederick Kirshnit, had this to say after the concert: “2018 marks my twentieth year of writing music reviews from New York and the number hovers around the 1,000 mark. Not many of those events were as surprising as the last one conducted by Iván Fischer.” He then added: “I would state emphatically that this was the best concert of the season.” Another critic of the publication lauded the concert's soloist, pianist Dénes Várjon: “Várjon successfully combined momentum with a freedom in phrasing, spontaneity and a clear articulation throughout.”
“Within the course of a half-hour this afternoon, Mr. Várjon soared into my highest echelon of favourite musicians […] it was evident that we were in the presence of a master pianist,” said another U.S. critic. “One is immediately fascinated by his grandiose yet silken style and his dynamic, elaborate technique.” Certainly, it also required the orchestra to bring to life Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3: “The hushed re-entry of the timpani and orchestra that followed was a moment of sheer magic”; “A spine-tingling entrance”; “A heart-rending effect”; “Heavenly clouds of gentle wind voices”; and “the descending bass motif returns, moving me to tears...just sublime.” “Várjon and the orchestra had given me one of the concerto experiences of a lifetime. […] It's reassuring to know such depth of beauty is always there, and that - with the help of great artists - we can escape to it... even if only for a few fleeting moments,” the author surmised. When the last notes rang out, the audience was on their feet as though they were one, breaking out in loud applause and calls of “bravo!” Classical Source also gave the New York concert five stars out of five, calling it “extraordinary.”
The New York Classical Review emphasised that “Fischer is an authentic innovator.” To underscore as much, they noted that Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 (in B-minor) was played on Baroque instruments, and added that the orchestra, following the conclusion of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, gave an encore with members of the ensemble singing. The author said this was the most charming way possible to demonstrate the community experience of making music, adding that it “connected with the audience in a way that no […] ceremony of programming ever could.”
Following the performances in New York, the orchestra gave its first-ever concert in Reykjavík, taking the stage in the multiply acclaimed Harpa Concert Hall, completed in 2011. The Icelandic audience was looking forward to the concert of the Hungarian orchestra as an “extraordinary event,” knowing the ensemble “likes to surprise” and is led by “a true genius,” Iván Fischer. Organisers concluded after the concert that, “this was indeed the beginning of a beautiful friendship with an orchestra made up of brilliant and wonderful people.” The tour concluded with a similarly successful concert in Athens. Hungarian audiences will have their final chance to hear the programme on 23 January at Müpa Budapest.
The Festival Orchestra's next concert after that will be its February 4 musical marathon, organised jointly with Müpa Budapest, this year spotlighting Bernstein and American music. Tickets are only available for a few of the concerts, and can be purchased here for just 990 forints per concert.
