In the busy final days of the year, the Budapest Festival Orchestra has appeared on a number of international top lists. The orchestra’s recording of Bruckner’s symphony no. 9 is listed as one of Apple Music’s best classical music albums of 2022, while the Dutch NativeDSD has named the same recording one of the year’s five best orchestral recordings. Audiences have until December 22 to decide who receives the Dutch platform’s album of the year award.
In October, the Budapest Festival Orchestra was named the Orchestra of the Year in London, and the international music scene is now focusing on the BFO’s newest recording of Bruckner’s music. The recording of Bruckner’s unfinished symphony, no. 9, appears on Apple Music’s list of the best classical music albums of 2022. “Whenever I conduct Bruckner, it somehow gets under my skin,” Iván Fischer told Apple, adding that the symphony, despite being unfinished, is just as complete and beautiful as the Venus de Milo, whose torso we all love without her arms.
The Dutch platform NativeDSD, specializing in sharing top quality audio recordings, has also nominated the BFO’s Bruckner album for the Album of the Year 2022 award. The final round of five recordings includes performances by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Symphony Orchestra; the audience has until December 22 to select the winner. Click this link to cast your vote.
The Year 2022 in numbers
The Festival Orchestra has performed abroad 44 times this year, contributing to Hungary’s good reputation in 24 cities in 10 countries. The Festival Orchestra was regularly mentioned in the international press, from the BBC to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit and MediciTV.
In Hungary, the BFO gave 139 concerts, 69 of which were free performances, with 45 concerts outside Budapest; in Hungary, more than 58,000 people saw the BFO in 2022. In Heroes’ Square, the orchestra’s free concert drew an audience of 7000 people. For the tenth year, the BFO continued its hugely successful Midnight Music series, responding to the demands of younger audiences; and for children, in addition to our Cocoa Concerts, we also launched a series of online educational videos under the BFO Explorer title.
On December 26, the BFO will bid farewell to the year with a sold-out Surprise Concert, and, on December 30, we will stream our October Haydn-Mozart concert online, with exciting extra content, on the Symphony website, dubbed the Netflix of classical music. In January, fans of Baroque music and Mahler aficionados will find concerts particularly to their liking.
