EIF: Budapest Festival Orchestra: Weber and Mendelssohn

Usher Hall - 10/08/23

Iván Fischer, conductor | Daniel Lozakovich, violin

In the last of the four concerts of their residency in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, under the baton of Iván Fischer, presented a programme of German masterworks by Weber and the Mendelssohn siblings, Felix and Fanny.  Weber’s punchy overture to his opera ‘Der Freischütz’ was followed by Fanny Mendelssohn’s song ‘Schnell fliehen die Schatten der Nacht’ from ‘Gartenlieder’, sung by none other than the instrumentalists of the orchestra!  Felix Mendelssohn’s glorious Violin Concerto, with Daniel Lozakovich as soloist, and his Third Symphony ‘Scottish’ concluded the advertised programme. 

Wagner’s genius in developing German opera rooted in the language, landscape and cultural heritage of Germany did not arise in a vacuum.  Weber had gifted him a template, with ‘Der Freischütz’ being a prime example. Its overture is a gem of melodramatic and musical contrasts, evoking dark supernatural forces and the triumph of good over evil.  Some magical horn writing was exquisitely presented with two hornists on the choir balcony and another two offstage, all four returning to the stage for the rest of the piece.  Iván guided his willing accomplices through a masterly, atmospheric, dramatic presentation of the masterpiece, boding well for the goodies to come. 

The players stood, formed an SATB choir and, under Iván’s direction and helpful surtitles, delivered Fanny Mendelssohn’s ‘Morgengruss’ (Morning Greeting) the fourth of a set of six published songs, as clearly and as capably convincingly as any professional choir I know. Very lovely. 

Young Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich brought a freshness to the Violin Concerto, with sweet clear tone, elegant phrasing and sparing use of rubato; the excellent acoustic of the Usher Hall and Iván Fischer’s direction ensuring a perfect dynamic balance throughout. The interplay of soloist with the wind players was particularly eloquent. The flawless intonation throughout, even in the cadenza, was impressive. The transition to the slow movement was very lovely and the delicate radiant beauty of the romantic melody shone.  Breathtakingly touching and tender too was the return of the main melody on winds at the end.  The finale boasts one of my favourite introductions and the string playing in the orchestra re-affirmed this for me.  The finale was a delight from start to finish.  When the main theme returns to set us up for the coda, the cellos, who have been bumping along on pedal notes for a while, have their patience rewarded with one of the loveliest counter-melodies in all music and they shone.  And the coda itself, yet another of my top 10 codas, was quite superb.  A top-drawer performance of a masterpiece.  Nathan Milstein’s fiendishly difficult ‘Paganiniana’, a set of variations on the same caprice that forms the basis of all Paganini variations, with some cheeky inclusions from the concerti, was the stunning encore. 

Mendelssohn’s ‘Scottish’ Symphony is more scrapbook of memories than travelogue and, though I’ll always claim to prefer the ‘Italian’ Fourth, the ‘Scottish’ never fails to win me over in performance, especially in the hands of as expert a band of painters of musical pictures as the BFO guided by Iván Fischer.  The solemn introduction and the uneasy grace of the first movement, sustained until a storm cleared the air, held the attention expertly, every nuance of Mendelssohn’s expertly crafted score pointed to perfection. The scherzo, a delightful light-footed Scottish reel, featured some agile clarinet playing and a great sense of fun.  The romantic Adagio was as touchingly beautiful as I’ve heard. The finale begins full of anxious nervous energy, the tension mounting with the increasing intricacy of the thematic treatment, until (and Mendelssohn must have hugged himself when he thought of it) a majestic ‘big tune’ launches to carry the music to its triumphant conclusion.  In a first for me, and any other listener I spoke to, the instrumentalists stood as their part entered, violas, then second violins, first violins, winds, trumpets and finally horns, until all but the cellos were standing, playing their hearts out.  Pure deid brilliant. 

They weren’t getting away without an encore after that (and especially after the more observant in the audience had noticed the trombonists furtively reappearing on stage): Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance Op.72 No.1 in B major, an ‘Odzemek’.  Riotously good clean fun, adding to a night full of happy earworms.. Excellent. 

Cover photo: Lev Efimov