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Budapest Festival 2018

Budapest Festival 2018

Mahler’s monuments

In next to no time ‘founding father’ Iván Fischer conducted his Budapest Festival Orchestra into the world top ten. Although these Hungarian musicians are equally at home in all styles, it was mainly in the late-Romantic and early-Modern repertoire that they won their spurs. In this fifth edition of the Budapest Festival, the music of Gustav Mahler is central. Mahler is a composer with whom Fischer has an exceptional bond, as is witnessed by his award-winning recordings of some of Mahler’s symphonies.

Mahler is a master of musical transformation. Just listen to the metamorphosis the poems of Des Knaben Wunderhorn undergo! In his hands simple songs that reflect the German national character become sublime symphonic creations that express the tragedy and the dark side of human existence.

Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra glitter in these four resounding reflections on the meaning of being human.