Criticisms

Criticisms about the festival:

•  Praise of the “kalaka” (=doing a job together)

  The following lines are about the final concert of the conducting master class. Beforehand I had doubts that the closing concert of a master class could symbolically and fully represent the artistic value of such an important festival.  My anxiety proved to be unjustified, and the concert answered a definitive yes in response to my question.

  The master class was taught by Pesko, and his assistant was Tihanyi.  This title though seems quite unfair to Tihanyi, because due the temporary illness of Pesko he instructed part of the class alone.  So, in this case we can consider two professors for this class:  Pesko and Tihanyi, in that order.

  A conducting master class is unusual genre even with one professor, since a conductor not only conducts but also instructs the orchestra, while the purpose a course is that the conductor be instructed.  It’s a kind of supervision.  But here—unlike, say in psychoanalysis—both acts were happening at the same time.  This is certainly more challenging for a novice, but in the concert we could only feel this tension in a positive and creative way, high praise for the work of the professors.  Anyway, a miracle happened—it could have been an illusion, but for the audience it is ultimately unimportant.  The three masterpieces or near-masterpiece didn’t split into parts but seemed very well formed and coherent.  Despite the fact that the young conductors had strong personalities, and among them there were better and less good, there was certainly no feeling that they were simply following the interpretations of the professors.

  I have not even mentioned in this complex multi-player performance two additional factors: the Savaria Symphony Orchestra and the soloist.  The pianist was Dénes Várjon, who was at once explosively intense, but also rich and brilliant, and who served as the main cohesive force in the two Bartók works.

  The first concerto was conducted by Mélisse Brunet (F), Daniel Csengery (H) and Benjamin Makino (USA).  The concentration and economy in Csengery’s conducting, and the stormy but well controlled tempi of Makino were memorable for me.  The famous motoric impluse of the piece was always present, and Várjon was incredibly energetic and virtuosic in the last movement.  The orchestra played very impressively, marked by precision, good balances, and excellent performances by the percussion and brass.

  The peak-point of the evening was undoubtedly the third concerto.  The concerto, written for Bartok’s own wife was conducted by three young women conductors: Makiko Habu (J), Yuri Kishimoto (J) and Donka Miteva (BG). The first movement was rather precise, carefully shaped and evocative.  The performance was driven mainly by the pianist.  The ethereal strings of the second movement were not always immaculate.  Perhaps the conductor should have helped them a little bit more.  Várjon’s declamation was movingly beautiful in the chorale-section, nearly shedding new light its importance.  The fantastic buzz of the middle section was very precisely and plastically drawn by Kishimoto who conducted very expressively and harmoniously throughout movement.  In the beginning of the third movement Miteva seemed a little bit behind the orchestra, but she quickly took the initiative and in absolute accordance with the soloist conducted a frenetic and sparkling finale in which the orchestra finally confirmed its very favorable first impression. The hot celebration was for them and for Várjon both.

  Firebird is a major trial for every orchestra, but the Savaria Orchestra overcame it wonderfully.  We should definitely mention the name of the first oboist, Lakatos Mihaly, whose soaring performance played a significant role in this piece.  Moreover, the work’s cohesion achieved an almost incomprehensibly high level.  The tempi were harmoniously convincing, and the musical characters reflected each other very well.  We received a wonderful listening experience of this sensual and revolutionarily orchestrated masterpiece.  The conductors: Frank Zielhorst (NL), Josip Nalis (HR) and Federico Crisanaz (I) were all impressive.  I personally liked the exciting, informative and intense conducting of Nalis the most, but Crisanaz – who conducted without baton – also reigned with an impressive force over the vast sounds of the finale.