September 5, 2010: My first concert at the Opera House: Mahler's 2nd

September 5, 2010: About five o'clock I prepared dinner -- I microwaved five fish sticks (more breading than fish!) and a cup of frozen green peas. Some dinner! Then I dressed up for the concert at the Opera House and left Buda about 5:15. I decided to walk as far as I could in order to make it to the Opera House by 7:00 when the doors opened. I walked down Menusi utca to Bartok Bela ut, across the Freedom Bridge, down Vaci utca to Deak Ter where I crossed a small park to Andrassy ut. I arrived at Andrassy ut around 6:05 and saw that the entire avenue was blocked off to traffic and that there was some sort of festival taking place. A closer look revealed a series of stages under tents that were placed down the road far enough apart so that the music at one tent would not be heard at the next tent. On each stage was a grand piano and at the first tent were two small boys and their teacher performing. Periodically their teacher would play a solo. The following video is a part of a Chopin piece he played.

two boys playing in a concert on Andrassy ut

teacher playing concert

After a while I walked down Andrassy ut to the Opera House. As I approached I could hear the pianist performing in front of the Opera House was furiously in the middle of a very complex work. I tried to take a video of him but unfortunately there was no space on my camera. He no sooner finished his complex work than he started another equally complicated one. Then another. If I were he, I would have collapsed of exhaustion. Then he played one of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies. He played arpeggios with both hands ascending the piano keys, then arpeggios going down, then hands doing arpeggios going in opposite directions. He performed the rhapsody at breakneck speed. When he finished, the audience was very appreciative but he humbly nodded, sat down at the piano and played Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody, equally demanding and incredible to hear. I thought this certainly must be the end of it, but no! He played yet another piece equally difficult. The audience went wild. I'm only sorry that I couldn't do a video of this pianist; he was incredible.  I looked down Andrassy ut beyond the Opera House and saw that there were at least two other tents down the avenue. I learned this morning that the performances began at 10:00 a.m. and included classical and jazz. Too bad I didn't know about this beforehand. Everyone and their dog appeared for the festivities.

even bulldogs like music

At 7:00 I made my way to the Opera House to take my seat.  Since my seat was on the third balcony, I had to go up several flights of steps (no elevator from what I could see). My seat was in the very front near the center of the balcony - just about the same location of my seat at Disney Hall. Just seeing the Opera House for a concert was a feast for the eyes.

chandelier of Opera House

balcony view at Opera House

 Then the orchestra came on stage.

Budapest Symphony Orchestra

I was a bit concerned when I saw no space for the choir that I know sings in Mahler's 2nd. But in the fifth movement when they were to sing, the curtain behind the orchestra rose and six rows of singers could be seen.

Orchestra & chorus for Mahler's 2nd

 The concert started with the national anthem which everyone stood for. The strings played most of this and I could tell that I was in for a treat. The strings had such a fullness about their playing. After the national anthem, they played the Ode to Joy (why, I don't know but the Hungarians in the audience seemed to expect it because they remained standing after the national anthem in anticipation of it). Then Fisher Adam gave a brief introduction to the music, speaking even a bit in English. Then he began conducting Mahler's 2nd. As I said before, the strings of the orchestra were very lush and full. However, it seemed that the acoustics in the Opera House didn't allow the sound to resonate very much (I guess I'm spoiled with the Disney Hall!) Also, I felt that the brass section was a bit weaker than the other sections. But the soloists were incredible. The mezzo soprano had a very full lush voice and the soprano was very good, too. The choir had tremendous depth, and Fisher Adam had great finesse in directing the orchestra. There was no way that anyone could have dozed off in the loud passages -- the orchestra roared louder than any orchestra I've heard play Mahler's 2nd. Unfortunately though the orchestra sometimes overpowered the chorus. But on the whole, it was a performance I will long remember.

After leaving the concert hall, I saw that there were still performers at the piano tents, so I stayed a bit to hear four musicians playing Hungarian tunes that the audience was singing. Down the street I passed some typical trendy shops on the avenue.

Herend shop on Andrassy ut

 Then nearby was another pianist playing some complex and difficult work as I had heard in front of the Opera House by that one pianist. I stayed long enough to hear him complete his work and then, since I had to teach the next day, decided to return home.

Needless to say, my evening at the Opera House stimulated my musical senses tremendously.