Sensuous Depths

A selection of orchestral concerts
at London's Royal Festival Hall,
heard by BILL NEWMAN

Renaud Capuçon, violin, Budapest Festival Orchestra / Ivan Fischer
Brahms, Lalo and Rimsky-Korsakov
4 March 2012

A programme typical of the ingenuity of this magnificent orchestra's founder and chief conductor. The whole orchestra, section by section is geared to perform music with a finesse and excellence that expresses what it set out to perform at its formation in 1983 by Fischer and the pianist Zoltan Kocsis. There were feelings of expectancy and excitement as the players awaited the conductor's appearance to conduct Brahms' Tragic Overture. The sheer vitality opened my eyes and ears to their remarkable musicality and expertise, and my memories wandered back to the 1930s when Toscanini guest conducted the BBC Symphony...