Music Hath Charms

We went to the stunning Franz List Zeneakademia concert hall, the Grand Hall, for some Mozart piano concertos. The pianist was Vajron Denes, playing with Concerto Budapest. Where to begin?

He was terrific, relaxed but intense and powerful. And the concertos, one of which I had never heard before as far as I know, reminded me what a great pianist Mozart must have been and why students need to practice scales. I was also reminded that musical warhorses exist because the warhorses are usually good pieces of music.

The audience was almost exclusively old, more so than in the U.S. This is surprising in a country that prides itself on its classical music heritage. After all, it's the birthplace of Bartok, Liszt, Kodaly and Ligeti. There are six orchestras in Budapest, providing employment to graduates of the Franz Liszt Academy. Music is subsidized by the city of Budapest and by the state. Maybe the demographics were skewed because of the day--young people have to get up and go to work on weekday. A weekday concert is less attractive as a result.

Attending a concert in Budapest, which is almost always a wonderful musical experience, raises an issue that has nothing to do with the music. It's the clapping at the end of the concert. At first, the clapping sounds the same as clapping in New York or St. Paul. By the end of the second bow, the clapping has changed. It is rhythmic and all audience members clap at the same pace. At the third bow, not only do people clap in unison, but they become insistent, speeding up in concert, demanding an encore. Audience members not only clap together, but they clap faster and faster together.

This leads to unpleasant reflections about the nature of crowds and the development of a single voice in that crowd. Does the style of clapping at Budapest concerts mean that these elderly classical music lovers have fascist tendencies? Does it explain Viktor Orban, the country's right-wing prime minister? Nah. After all, people in the U.S. clap independently, yet look at our politics. So instead of digging too deeply, I am instead going to reflect on the sources of decoration of the amazing building, some of which are shown here. PS--acoustics are pretty good, too.