The young music director of the Hungarian State Opera House, Péter Halász, makes the orchestra emphasise the story-telling character of the work; with marvellously clean lines and a love for the details, his conducting contributed very significantly to the success of the evening.
Read moreThe young music director does not merely conjure up moments of great intensity in this place. Halász conducts Das Rheingold as if it were a huge watercolour. We hear finely-woven carpets of strings, motifs in precise close-up, and wonderfully sparkling tuttis.
Read moreIf the Ring is a great opportunity for directors of any era, for music directors it is a mandatory test by which they must prove themselves. Well, here, too, Péter Halász has proved his ability to inspire the orchestra of the Opera House to thorough and profound work – thus did the musicians become vigorous and self-assured participants in the premiere.
Read moreThe musical execution is inspired, sophisticated, and well-structured. Following several debut performances, it has now become perfectly clear that the appointment of Péter Halász as music director of the new Hungarian State Opera was the most felicitous choice – this young conductor is an explorer and a striking and authentic musician; after the premiere of Richard Strauss’s immensely difficult Die Frau ohne Schatten, hopes should be justifiably high for the success of Mozart’s similarly challenging work.
Read moreFollowing the first performances of Falstaff and Die Frau ohne Schatten in the previous season, Péter Halász’s third premiere now makes it quite palpable that a suitable person has been chosen for the position of music director and that his work as an instructor and as an opera conductor, even to put it conservatively, has been a boon to the accomplishments of the orchestra.
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