As well as the usual earthy, folk-based energy, Iván Fischer revealed detail, lightness, quizzical humour, angst and joy. Critical review by the Financial Times.
There are a few concerts that automatically go to the top of the list. Some promise the highest quality of music-making, others have performers with a track record of delivering something out-of-the-ordinary — or, as in this case, both at the same time. Nothing that Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra do ever settles for the status quo. They make regular visits to London and this first of their two Proms this season — a programme of Enescu, Bartók and Mahler — was as absorbing and quirky as one would expect. Fischer founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983. He is still the orchestra’s music director now and it is the extreme closeness of the relationship that makes them a special team. Everything they play has Fischer’s stamp on it.
