Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – As led by Iván Fischer, the BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA satisfies the soul with deeply human music-making

• By drediman
• February 7, 2026
• No Comments

Oh how I’ve missed Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Over the years, they’ve been responsible for some of the most revolutionary and profound experiences I’ve had at a concert hall. From a revelatory and vital semi-staged rendition of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro to a visceral performance of Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony — complete with chorus plants in the audience — attending their rogue-like happenings is more than simply an act of listening to sublime music, it’s an inherently human experience that registers on a visceral level. In fact, there’s something almost cultish about being at their performances, as if participating in an active act of transgression. Now, for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, the singular orchestra has returned to New York for two distinct concerts at Carnegie Hall. Suffice to say, I couldn’t be more excited.

As led by Fischer — in my opinion one of the most visionary and ingenious conductors in the world — my strong feelings about the orchestra were more than confirmed last night. The evening commenced with a rendition of Arvo Pärt‘s Summa, a fitting tribute to the beloved Estonian composer’s landmark 90th birthday. As typical of the maestro’s unconventional approach, the minimalist composer’s poignant short work was rendered in a moving choral version sung by members of the orchestra. Then came Tchaikovsky’s oft played Violin Concerto, featuring the radiant playing of superb soloist Maxim Vengerov. Performed with unity of feeling and instinctual flourish, the performance had me listening to the warhorse concerto anew. Supremely expressive without being florid, the playing by Vengerov and the orchestra moved beyond the technicalities of mere music-making and entered into the realm of unfiltered emotion.

The program concluded with Brahms’s warm and beautifully balanced Symphony No. 2, which was performed with the utmost freshness and propulsion, even transceding its original pastoral intentions. Throughout, there was hard-won wisdom, honest lyricism, and clarity to the playing that touched many in the audience, eliciting heartfelt ovations at the end of the four-movement piece (the concert officially wrapped up with an encore of some toe-tapping Hungarian folk music, much to the audience’s delight). Indeed, established in the mid-1980s by Fischer, the Budapest forces have never sounded better. Their all-too-short stint in New York continues tonight at Carnegie Hall with Mahler’s titanic Third Symphony. I’m sure it will also be a night to remember.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

BUDAPEST FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Classical Music
Carnegie Hall
Approximately 2 hours (with one intermission)
Through February 7