Hungarian fantasies
Fischer and the BFO on disc
The Budapest Festival Orchestra’s recordings number over 100.
Its early discs on Philips include acclaimed performances Bartók’s piano concertos recorded with the orchestra’s co-founder, the pianist and conductor Zoltán
Kocsis who died in 2016. Philips also teased out peerless versions of Dvoˇrák’s Symphonies 8 & 9
(later remastered on Channel) and Kodály’s tangy Háry János
Suite. Music by Strauss, Schubert, Brahms and more appeared on the Hungaraton label before the orchestra signed to Channel Classics in the early 2000s, which lavished the orchestra with the then new SACD format. The 5.1 surround sound achievable by Super Audio CD brought out stunning detail in its recordings which you can hear in its acclaimed and ongoing series of Mahler recordings, the first of which, No. 6, was released in 2005. No. 2 appeared the following year, which we praised for its sound quality, and the leanness and balance of the orchestral textures. The BFO’S 2009 Mahler 4 was, we wrote, ‘one of the most musically satisfying recordings to appear in a long time’, while its recording in 2012 of Mahler’s First was unanimously praised. The Ninth in 2015, the colossal Third in 2017 and this year’s astonishing Seventh (our Orchestral Choice recently)have sealed the deal for the BFO and Fischer as among the pre-eminent Mahlerian musicians of our times.
It includes the aforementioned concert choreography. It also includes what he calls ‘psychological’ factors. ‘In most orchestras, a player is appointed with tenure until retirement. He sits in the fifth desk of violas, but who encourages his creativity?’ In the BFO, Fischer says it’s he who encourages that player’s creativity. He asks members of the orchestra to programme short concerts and compete for concerto slots: not just section leaders, but everyone. ‘It means a reduction in hierarchy between section leader and rank-and-file.’
And what about the role of the conductor? Is that also due for reform in Fischer’s orchestra of the future? ‘Look,’ he says, ‘there is a lot of talk about the authoritarian conductor, the one-of-theboys type of conductor. It doesn’t really matter. There’s one type of good conductor. He hears the music inside and he’s able to radiate his vision. The only method of creating unity is the imagination of the conductor.’ He believes there is no need to divest authority from the single figure on the podium, ‘because otherwise there are too many ideas. Four players in a quartet can have a dialogue; 100 players cannot.’
The key here is probably Fischer’s own choice of wording: reform, not revolution. He might be fond of a quirky staging, but his luminous and largely traditional interpretations – try his account of Mahler’s Third Symphony, abounding with detail – have never relied on novelty. The BFO structure was radical in communist Hungary, but today Fischer isn’t too bothered about rebutting conductorial archetypes. ‘Let’s say musicians have two options,’ he clarifies. ‘You can join an orchestra with a sweet conductor who will never upset the players, but the results are mediocre. On the other hand, you can choose an orchestra with a conductor who is sometimes nasty, sometimes difficult. He might give you a hard time but the results will be spectacular. Most musicians will choose the second one.’ Does he think that choice is shifting in an age when all sorts of power relationships are being called to account and reconfigured? He shrugs. ‘No. People who use music to make a living – maybe they will choose the first. But real musicians will always choose the second.’
Surely, I venture, there’s a risky romanticism to his implication that artistic ends justify any means. Fischer shakes his head. ‘Music is an art. Symphony orchestras have developed in the last few decades in a way that offers safe jobs. Safe jobs need leaders who are easy-going, and who somehow manages the machine. That’s not art, it’s a social phenomenon.
Art is sometimes struggle. Obviously I’m not arguing that conductors should be abusive. There is a middle ground. The ideal conductor cares for the community.
You are in a city. The city has music lovers and those who never go to concerts. It has children and disabled people. The job of the conductor is to give them all music that elevates them and offers a spiritual experience. The conductor must care about providing the right type of children’s concert. He must make sure the autistic children have access. Moral responsibility is the measure of a great conductor.’
Fischer doesn’t want to talk politics. In the past he’s been outspoken about the direction of Hungary’s right-wing regime under Viktor Orbán, but today he chooses his words carefully, stressing ‘the funding of an orchestra is a cultural issue,’ not a political one. ‘The flow of funding to the BFO is relatively stable and we are very grateful for that,’ he underlines. Does he think orchestral music can be a useful counter-narrative in public discourse? ‘If it can, the links are not with day-to-day political issues.’ He talks instead about the climate emergency, which he says concerns him deeply. ‘I wonder how we musicians can help. The old appetite was always for progress, from steam engines to jet engines. Now there is a desire for a more caring attitude. For preserving. Maybe music can show how that is done.’
One way he suggests is by appreciating period instruments. ‘Look at one of the main disadvantages that “progress” brought to symphony orchestras. Volume! Orchestras got louder and louder. Brass players using larger mouthpieces, string players using more penetrating strings… Orchestras today are twice as loud as in Mahler’s time, five times as loud as in Mozart’s time. The interest in period instruments is one sign that people are looking for a more human quality, and I applaud it.’ But it’s the mentality as well as the mechanisms, and his point can be applied to modern instruments, too. Play more quietly. ‘In most symphony orchestras there are musicians using ear plugs. They have to, because the trumpet behind them is so loud it damages their ears. Musicians wearing ear plugs, it is not ideal.’ And sure, he smiles, the political parallels are plain should we want to draw them. ‘Stop shouting, start listening to each other. It’s a pretty good strategy.’
The BFO and Fischer’s new recording of Beethoven 1 & 5 is out on Channel Classics
‘A sweet conductor will never upset the players, but the results are mediocre’