Bartók in 1911, the year he completed Bluebeard’s Castle, his only opera
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
Give Iván Fischer a hat and he’ll pull a rabbit out of it, as well as conjuring a Beethoven Seven of thrust (the term ‘slow introduction’ didn’t apply here), purpose, the exposition (repeated, regrettably, this is music that goes forward, not back) driven by horns and timpani, yet dancing (in league with Wagner’s “apotheosis” opinion), rhythms given a certain elegance, relentlessness resisted by attention to dynamics. The Allegretto, slower than that, a lack of vibrato adding austerity, was just a little dour, offset by a springy Scherzo, not near the marked Presto, to advantage, although, however tempo-related, the Trio was oratorical, and the Finale, without repeat, too fast (and not just because the marking is Allegro, Fischer overdoing the con brio), if with impressive player energy and unanimity, although hard-stick timpani outstayed their welcome.
Give Fischer another hat (for the opera house this time) and, a second bunny aside (should be kept apart if M/F), he’ll be a master illusionist of the shadows and secrets of a dodgy duke’s bizarre/inhospitable abode, as well as a fellow-countryman to librettist Béla Balázs, loyal to the Hungarian language natively projected (firstly in the ‘Prologue’ by Fischer himself from the podium) and then by the singers of Bluebeard and Judith (the latest of his wives, he collects them), his detachment unresponsive to his bride’s enquiry as to what is found beyond seven doors, the rooms sometimes tinted with blood. Bartók’s score is as sinister as it is opulent, as descriptive as it is cryptic, as delicate as it is (‘Door Five’) powerful, this singular opera is for the mind, as well as musically compelling irrespective of storyline, yet it irresistibly paints the windowless gloom, the increasing tension between the characters, she wanting to know everything about her suitor and new surroundings, Dorottya Láng’s Judith suitably keen if wary, and he resisting with mounting irritation, although he knows she will soon be another trophy, Krisztián Cser’s Duke appropriately aloof with perhaps a tad of conscience, sadness suggested in the orchestra, her fate soon sealed by painful brass dissonances, darkness forever. If the qualities of the Beethoven have already faded, unlike the ‘Eroica’ two years ago, the Bartók made for great theatre, haunting the memory.
Judit – Dorottya Láng
Kékszakállú/Bluebeard – Krisztián Cser
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ghgg