Concert traces influence of gypsy music on composers

Published on Thursday 28 August 2008 10:44

Budapest Festival *** OrchestraUsher Hall PICKING up on one of the earlier Usher Hall events gives an opportunity to look forward to the Hungarian music that will feature in Sunday evening's Fireworks Concert.

The first half of the Budapest Festival Orchestra's introductory programme last Saturday evening was devoted to tracing the influence of gypsy music on the compositions of Liszt, Sarasate end Brahms. Conductor Ivan Fischer guided his audience through with a lighthearted commentary.

The first item was a solo by Oszkar Okros on the cimbalom – a popular Hungarian dulcimer played with hammers. He offered a loose version of one of the Brahms Hungarian Dances, moving around the instrument with amazing speed and virtuosity. Violinist Jozsef Lendvay (sr] joined him, and they followed on with an improvised duet as if performing in a Budapest cafe. Fischer emphasised that gypsy violinists learn their repertoire by folk tradition, that is, from father to son – without recourse to printed music.

The orchestra came next with a transcription of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 3. The easygoing atmosphere that had been generated seemed to catch on. It was a performance which lacked the kind of precision to be expected in that sort of music. The gypsy duo took part and continued to do so in the two Brahms Hungarian Dances that followed.

Jozsef Lendvay (jr] has had a conservatoire training. He contributed a staggeringly good performance of Sarasate's Gypsy Airs and an even more stunning encore that featured his left-hand pizzicato dexterity. He and his father brought the first part of the concert to a rather subdued ending by joining the orchestra in the 11th Brahms Hungarian Dance.

Part II was given up to Schonberg's densely scored arrangement of Brahms's Piano Quartet No 1 in G minor. An orchestral work by the likes of Bartok or Kodaly would have been preferable.