You conducted the first act of Bánk Bán at the jubilee opera gala last autumn and you also conducted the opera Dózsa György with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra on the bicentennial of Ferenc Erkel?s birth. Additionally, you had two concerts with the same orchestra at which you conducted Mahler?s Symphony No. 1.
On the two days before the Erkel opera, we also had premiere performances of Der Rosenkavalier. Those four days were difficult to endure psychologically and also physically. The rehearsals for the Strauss opera were rather tiresome, not only because the piece is difficult but we also had to cope with other problems. I thought the singers found it hard that they had less time to prepare for the premiere on March 20 than what would have been justified by the difficulty of the opera. For instance it generally takes singers two years to prepare well for the great role of Baron Ochs. For a long period, Géza Gábor was rehearsing with both casts and it was no surprise that he exhausted himself after the main rehearsal. As a last minute solution, we had the German bass Lars Woldt sing at both premiere performances despite that fact that he was a member of the second cast only. Another singer was unable to get prepared by the time the Latvian director arrived to start the rehearsals. But it was great help that János Rolla, head of the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, sat in the orchestra as concert master and held excellent rehearsals. He and Ágnes Soltész helped the preparation process tremendously.
After these two premiere evenings, two performances of Dózsa György followed. How did you manage to get through the four evenings?
It was difficult. I could handle Der Rosenkavalier quite well despite the preceding events that were a terrible psychological burden on us. Because of the time factor, it is always very difficult to accomplish a premiere if the stage set is complicated. Der Rosenkavalier can be finished in a four-hour rehearsal with twenty-minute and ten-minute breaks. Which means I cannot take a break but the team needs to go through the entire piece. This permits soloists to plan their time because they can experience what it?s like to go through the entire piece from beginning to end. We hardly had the chance to hold orchestral stage rehearsals.
Your second premiere was The Magic Flute back in December last year. What did you think of the acoustics of the Vígszínház?
The acoustics in our new venue is no worse than in the Opera House building which was damaged during the 1984 renovation. The Vígszínház is not the best place for opera performances. We should have experimented a bit, but there was a shortage of time. The sound of the orchestra is not really satisfying even though the musicians play very well. Still, the premiere was very useful for two reasons. The Opera received a new venue, these 24 performances gave extra tasks to those involved and the director, László Marton, has created an effective performance. From our point of view, the main difficulty is that the Mozart opera is played there with four casts, on consecutive days, which requires plenty of organisation work. It would be best to have the same cast play the four performances, with two or three- day breaks in between. The Magic Flute involves a large team and this is difficult to organise for rehearsals. But otherwise, while conducting the opera, I feel quite happy about it.
You conducted and taught the orchestra The Sicilian Vespers at the end of the last season and you will not perform that anymore this year. Die Rosenvavalier will be conducted by István Dénes and Fidelio by Zsolt Hamar in the next season. In the past, I thought it was very good that one or two conductors would oversee each opera. What justifies the change of concept?
The earlier concept has not changed. It would be desirable for each piece to be overseen by just one conductor. Unfortunately, we only have one performing venue at the moment and consequently we had to reduce the repertoire. That?s how we can play each opera four to eight times in each season. We will follow the same system next year. The advantage of the ?one piece ? one conductor? system for the orchestra is that they only have to meet the expectations of one conductor and therefore their playing becomes steady. We do most performances with two casts and there are usually also changes in the orchestra. As a result, if anyone is missing for any reason, we have a substitute who can step in and play the piece as they were rehearsing it simultaneously. This is an advantage because it increases flexibility but also a disadvantage from the point of a steady sound. To return to your question: I have received many tasks for this season, which is why Gergely Kesselyák is now directing The Sicilian Vespers. I don?t think he has regretted that because I think it fits his personality very well. At the beginning of the next season, we will present Boito?s opera Mefistofele, and Der Rosenkavalier will be on the programme at the same time, so my colleague Pista Dénes has taken that over from me. The fact that I will depart from these much-liked operas now does not mean that I will never conduct them again. I would not mind for instance sharing the six performances of Der Rosenkavalier with my colleague. I think it is best to conduct as wide a repertoire as possible. It does a lot of good to a conductor?s musical life if for instance he can conduct let?s say La Bohéme on one day, Othello two days later and a Nuremberg around three days later. The numbers are not important. But I would find it hard having to conduct Mefistofele eight times in a row. Fortunately, the performances have been spread out over two periods.
The last production of Mayfest, Don Carlos, is coming up. What does this festival mean to the Opera House?
The idea came from the opera?s internationally renowned Director General Ádám Fischer, who took a significant part in the organising work. Additionally, Tamás Bátor?s contacts also meant a lot. A great many people worked hard on implementing this scheme and we could also rely on support from Ioan Holender, the intendant of the Opera House of Vienna who is leaving his post at the end of the season. I conducted two performances of Electra, so I cannot really give you my opinion about the rest. The basic aim is to get the Hungarian State Opera House connected in the international circulation of opera by inviting international guest artists.
On the whole, what?s your assessment of the season that is about to finish?
I will speak not as the primary conductor but as a member of the theatre, in first person. The Opera will not be in a better situation as long as it has an insufficient budget and does not have an additional performance venue. As long as this does not happen, we will not be able to have the repertoire we should, with pieces that are obligatory for general excellence. We continue to look for a way out, to keep the genre alive, but it seems hopeless. First of all we need sufficient financial conditions, and secondly, a stable second performance venue.
Interviewer: Péter Spangel / Source: fidelio.hu
