Iván Fischer conducting Bartók and Dvořák with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, DC

First he conducted Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra - the top of the skull blown into pieces and movements of varied colors and sizes? Then, Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D minor. The word that kept running through my mind was "alive;" that's what makes his concerts special. The passion he injects comes from the fact that the music he tries to convey, for those who participate in that moment, is passion, life - but life clarified: recognizing, (re)discovering, what you already knew - the fascinating, the immense, the delicate, the sublime, the sad and tragic, the joyous, playful.

The After Words, the Q&A session after the concert, felt somehow like sitting down with a friend.

Although this might have been his last performance for the year at the Kennedy Center, he will be the principal conductor of the NSO next season , too, which means he will probably conduct another 6-7 concerts in DC. And he has his own orchestra in Budapest - the Budapest Festival Orchestra - go see if you're around.

Watch his short interviews about his art, about what he does, here.

[Thursday, February 5, 2009]