You repeatedly said that the experiment in Budapest of playing Wagner's Ring Cycle in four days is an unacceptable, mad task... Are you satisfied with the final result?
It seemed impossible, yet it did work out. And I got more out of this production than what I had hoped for. I thought I would be really worn out by the end, but I did not feel the exhaustion. The performance of the Ring in four days was a great experience for me as a conductor. The effect of the music was much more intense, the pieces were better linked and various details received different emphasis. To me the whole thing was like when someone thinks they cannot stop eating their favourite food and so they put a giant portion on the plate just to see how much they can really eat. Even after the series, I felt like I was still hungry. Perhaps you could not say the same about the orchestra and the audience... By the end of the Ring, they were very tired from the amount of concentration, so next year we will have to consider if we really want to perform the cycle on consecutive days.
And how did the Budapest series compare to Bayreuth?
I felt much better in the Palace of Arts than in the Festspielhaus, but what the Bayreuth Festival is famous for is not that it offers such pleasant working conditions....The theatre that Wagner built there has very poor acoustic conditions for musicians and so communication between them is much more difficult. This was one of the reasons why conducting in the theatre was so torturous, especially in the first year, because the orchestra cannot hear the singer and the trumpet player cannot hear the strings...In the Palace of Arts, we could react to each other very well and therefore we could play the music much more freely.
You said you would like to see youngsters who grew up watching Lords of the Rings to also come to these shows. And indeed, the world of the nibelung, mermaids and giants could conjure up a fantasy. Has your plan worked out?
Indeed, we wanted the imagery of the performance and the projections to attract the attention of young people to Wagner and I saw many young faces in the audience. I hope next year there will be even more. Budapest audiences were a bit late to realise that the performances had sold out....It is very difficult to assess the real effect in these situations because although many people congratulated me for the series, usually only those who liked the pieces tell their opinion. Those who have objections do not come to me after the show to tell them to me....This is why one needs to take it with a grain of salt when people praise the production after the performance. Still, I hope that the series will help the German composer's music to have the same effect on others as it does on me. This music is addictive - Wagner's music is like a drug to me...
But this year you will not conduct anymore on the Green Hill...
I have finished with Bayreuth, last year was my last season, because that place has its own rules. The performances that I used to conduct have been taken off the programme. Now new productions will be staged, with new conductors. But next year also has an exciting new festival for me. I will appear at the Salzburg Festival for the first time, conducting the opening premiere.
You have made long-term plans for the Wagner Festival in Budapest. You have already drawn up a programme up until 2013 - the 200th anniversary of Wagner's birth.
The programme is not entirely finished, we must still finalise the dates. And I can already tell that during the jubilee year, when the composer will be remembered all around the world, it will not be easy to find good Wagner singers. By all means, I consider the current series a benchmark. Next to the singers, the Radio Orchestra also performed extraordinarily well....
You said you would spend your Kossuth Prize purse on the orchestra.
We have already started to put this plan in practice. An international academy is being set up in the Radio Orchestra, which will operate in the form of a foundation. We will offer scholarships to young musicians who will be able to participate in the Ring production this way. This will be a great opportunity to young musicians because if they can show that they have participated in the performance, they will have a much better chance to find work in the future. The academy will start next year. I do not want to interfere with the operation of the foundation. The orchestra's members will be its curators.
You performed with the orchestra at Donaufest in Ulm in early July, where you played Haydn's oratory The Creation and Kodály's Háry János. Did the musicians of the Radio Orchestra not have any hard feelings after you chose the Opera House instead of the orchestra?
I don't know, they aren't talking about it. This decision also caused me a serious crisis of conscience. Although I initially hoped that I could fulfil both tasks, it turned out that this was physically impossible. The Radio Orchestra needs a musical director who can lobby more frequently and more efficiently for the orchestra. And although I have given up the post of heading the orchestra, I still play with them quite often....I believe it is possible to maintain one's job in two different ways. You either start screaming and collecting signatures or you try to find a gap in the market, which can prove your importance and make your employer interested in giving you work. The Wagner series perhaps helps in this latter approach.
I have also heard that the Opera House orchestra would like to get involved in the festival held at the Palace of Arts.
Yes, because there are so many tasks that the Radio Orchestra cannot cope with on its own, but it will remain the key player in the series. Over the past three years, we have proven that the Radio Orchestra can play Wagner very well and has had success abroad. On top of this, our series of Kodály recording is in the works. This signifies the orchestra's artistic values and importance.
In addition to the Opera House and the Radio Orchestra, there is another orchestra that also plays an important role in your life. The Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, which is 21 years old this year, recently received an important recognition. Your recording of Haydn's Symphony No 88 "The Letter V," Symphony No. 101 "The Clock" and Overture "L'isola disabitata"published by MDG, with you as conductor, won the German recording industry's prestigious ECHO award, which you will be presented with on October 19.
By that time, I will have had my first premiere at the Opera House: Fidelio on October 5. I will have many dates with the Haydn Orchestra next year because 2009 will be a Haydn memorial year. I am the type of person who enjoys being involved in a great many things and nowadays the 24 hours in a day are not enough. As the chief musical director of the Hungarian State Opera House, I must spend more time at home, but I cannot and do not want to burn all the bridges behind me.
Why have you chosen Fidelio for your introductory performance in the Ybl Palace?
Any opera house is usually opened with one of three works: The Magic Flute, The Meistersinger of Nuremberg or this Beethoven opera. My co-directors and I indeed aim at opening a new era in the history of the Budapest opera. This is perhaps already demonstrated by the list of performances and their casts in the upcoming season. I am also happy about Fidelio because in addition to being one of the most important pieces in music history, it helps me better get to know the orchestra and the choir.
You said you wanted to raise the opera house to international standard and you also repeatedly said that nobody should expect miracles, only good performances...
If the productions in which I conduct are bad, then they can immediately fire me. But I trust that I can successfully carry out the task I have undertaken. We will offer some unique performances in the upcoming season and we hope these will bring the Hungarian State Opera House international renown. The famous contributors at the Budapest Wagner days already include this series in their CVs. I hope this will also be the case with productions at the Budapest opera....
Interviewer: Zsuzsa Réfi / Photo: Máté Nándorfi
