Music of life-affirming vigour, then chilling intensity was the focus of this curious juxtaposition from the Budapest Festival Orchestra under its founding director Iván Fischer. The unalloyed joy of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, once described by Wagner as “the Apotheosis of the Dance itself”, made for a stark contrast to Bartók’s grim two-hander exploring the darkness of the human soul with music that could have been the soundtrack for any one of a dozen horror movies.
And what was the composer thinking when he dedicated this one-act opera of 1911 to his new wife? Based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale and Maeterlinck’s play Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Bluebeard’s Castle is not the most endearing of wedding presents. Was this gothic drama intended as an explicit message to his bride to protect his privacy or a tacit command to relinquish any attempt at reform? How much of the composer is reflected in Bluebeard himself? His wife Márta noted he rarely laughed. Whether Bartók’s sense of isolation was a quirk of personality or the outcome of his genius is impossible to say, but he responds to the sinister tale with an inspired score, its graphic content insinuating itself on us in such a way that we can almost feel the walls of Bluebeard’s castle closing in on us.
In this theatre of the mind, the orchestral writing effectively becomes a third character. No wonder it’s been said the work is the perfect opera to hear on disc or radio. But this
concert performance was utterly absorbing, not least owing to two perfectly matched Hungarian soloists with Dorottya Láng (soprano) and Krisztián Cser (bass) both singing without the aid of scores in what was their Prom’s debut. If there was any frustration in an otherwise superb performance it was the absence of the Albert Hall organ for the opening of the fifth door. No matter how loudly the orchestra played Bartók’s massive chords, the music loses something of its fearsome grandeur without those floor-shaking vibrations from the organ. It’s been used here in performance before, so why not on this occasion? Was the organist listed in the programme indisposed?
However, there was nothing disappointing elsewhere in this account, with orchestra and both soloists on superb form. Krisztián Cser was a mahogany toned Bluebeard, initially more world-weary than sinister, bringing a velvet-lined lyricism to the opening of the treasury and thereafter sounding increasingly a prisoner of his own inner turmoil and resigned to Judith’s requests to see beyond the seven doors. As his initially acquiescent wife, Dorottya Láng amply fulfilled the soprano role in a well projected and expressive voice variously passionate and resolute in her determination to bring light and life to her husband’s cheerless abode and turning in a thrilling top C for the opening of the fifth door. The fact that neither singer barely looked towards one another, but sang out towards the hall, merely added to the disconnect of two fatally mismatched lives.
Throughout, the Budapest players responded magnificently to Fisher’s direction who fashioned a vividly detailed account, enabling instrumental solos their full exposure (often shadowing phrases by the singers), while also encouraging the full orchestra to go full tilt the moment Judith joins Bluebeard’s three former wives in the seventh room. Audible sighs from the players heralding the lake of tears added further to the growing intensity.
Earlier, there had been a neat and tidy account of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, its opening movement (with exposition repeat) scrupulously shaped. But it was the dynamic variety within a nicely judged Allegretto (a tad slow, but all the more atmospheric for that) that caught the ear, especially for the pianissimo entry of the fugato which arrived with a remarkable sense of stillness. The Presto was impish, though the fast-paced finale, here over accented by an enthusiastic timpanist hidden from my view behind the violas, never quite brought an electrical charge despite the precision of the playing and Fisher’s left hand punching the air. That said, one couldn’t fault the precision and total commitment from Fisher and his players.
David Truslove
Beethoven and Bartók from Budapest (BBC Proms 2025)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No.7
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
Composed by Béla Bartók
Libretto by Béla Balázs
Dorottya Láng (soprano); Krisztián Cser (bass); Budapest Festival Orchestra; Iván Fischer, Conductor
Royal Albert Hall, London, 6 August 2025
All photos © Andy Paradise