GUEST CONDUCTOR : IVAN FISCHER: A MATTER OF FOCUS

Ivan Fischer makes no bones about it: “Touring,” says the Hungarian-born conductor, “is always painful surgery.”

No jet setter he. In fact, his brief local engagement--concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic tonight and Thursday at Hollywood Bowl, plus a week in residence with the Philharmonic Institute--represents Fischer’s entire summer calendar in America.

Then, it’s back to Amsterdam. Not the Concertgebouw--the hospital, for the birth of his second child. “I feel more comfortable being with my family and building up one (musical) organization,” the 36-year-old conductor explains.

During a recent conversation from the Cheltenham Festival in England, after a “Magic Flute” rehearsal, Fischer repeatedly alludes to his sense of focus both in his life and in his approach to music.

A perfect example of the latter is the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which he co-founded with fellow Hungarian Zoltan Kocsis four years ago.

“The Budapest is a special orchestra,” he notes. “It’s quite experimental. For one thing, the players are all members of other orchestras--the violin section contains six concertmasters. So it’s not a full-time group.”

What makes the ensemble special, and what displays so vividly Fischer’s passion for serious, concentrated music-making, is the unusual rehearsal schedule, which is measured not in hours but in weeks.

“Zoltan and I wanted to stress an intensive preparation period which we never have in a normal orchestra. This group works like a string quartet: We’ll rehearse one concert series for weeks. And we’ll concentrate on certain projects, such as the two years we devoted solely to the music of Bartok, or the Schubert and Mozart cycles we did recently.”

Fischer is mindful of how impractical this approach is in the quick-change world of modern orchestras. “We wanted to establish a workshop setting where we could get back to the roots of a musical problem. This is not what every orchestra needs, but I feel it’s good to get back to those roots now and then.”

A similar approach colors Fischer’s work with his Kent Opera, the small Canterbury-based company he has taken to Cheltenham: “We work long and hard on a production, and everyone seems comfortable with this polished approach.”

Which brings us to Hollywood Bowl, and its frighteningly short rehearsal schedules. Fischer has been there before. As Philharmonic followers may recall, he led a pair of concerts at Cahuenga Pass last summer (he made his U.S. debut leading the same orchestra at the Music Center in 1983). “I know the circumstances,” he says of the Bowl, with no chagrin in his voice.

Preparation is simply a matter of, once again, focus. “An orchestra like the Philharmonic knows this music well. Sometimes, all it takes is a gesture. You know, Furtwangler once wrote that, with a gesture in an upbeat, you can achieve a sound not possible in two weeks of rehearsal.”

It may be possible to overcome limited preparation time, but how does a visiting maestro cope with the hugeness of the Bowl itself? Once again, Fischer seems unconcerned. And once again, he returns to a familiar theme.

“Even in the largest environments, one can achieve magical concentration on something small.

“You can’t fear the spaces. Instead you must provide the audience with more concentrated details. The listener needs to be focused on something.”