'What Emanuel Ax constructs with music is no ostentatious castle, but a tranquil and intimate home that surprises the visitor with the fact that each room opens up into another,' is how the critic from Élet és Irodalom (Life and Literature), described the pianist after his last concert with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Iván Fischer and Ax understand each other perfectly, and this harmony helps them faithfully perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, which dates from 1784, the peak of the composer's career. The first movement evokes a military march that is nevertheless elegant and graceful, while the second is brimming with extraordinarily lovely modulations and astonishing dissonances, while the piece closes with a sparkling movement as if from a comic opera.
While Ax's world is a cottage concealing charming secrets, Bruckner's music is a 'romantic cathedral', as Fischer puts it. In the conductor's view, the Symphony No. 4 is built on two elements: the composer's incomparably solemn devotion and the most passionate possible Romanticism that follows in the footsteps of Wagner. This is the source of Bruckner's exceptional magic, which is adored by the entire world with good reason. His Symphony No. 4 is one of the contradictory Austrian composer's most popular works, and the only one to which he gave a name. The 'Romantic' symphony starts in a medieval town, and then takes us to a forest full of singing birds and the sounds of fervent hunting, before ending with a great shared feast in a field.

Presented by: Budapest Festival Orchestra