We also remembered two great figures of our music history on the 6th student recital of Hangrózsa Zongoraiskola which was held on 3rd December 2016, at Béla Bartók Memorial House at 11am. The school celebrated the second birthday of its name with this concert. The event was crowned by one of the art teachers of Franz Liszt Academy of Music, László Baranyay concert pianist awarded with Franz Liszt Prize, Steinway Artist.
The recital was opened by Balázs Juhász piano teacher, then the performance of child and adult students followed. At the recital, which filled two tems, we could listen to a varied program from piano schools used in Hungary and abroad, the repertoire was also expanded with new publications. Some children's songs were played from the volume Eperhajó, which introduces children into the mysteries of reading sheet music and playing the piano with color-drawn solutions. The adult students also performed more serious works. For example, some classical sonatina movements and one of Chopin's nocturnes were performed.
At the end of the second term, some students and their teacher, Balázs Juhász played a block of Bartók works. The four volumes of For Children were written between 1908 and 1909, adapting Hungarian and Slovakian folk songs, revised by the composer in 1945. Not only children love to play from the series, but also great artists often perform a few pieces or even the entire opus. This time, three Hungarian folk songs from the first volume were performed by child and adult students. After the students, the teacher of the school, Balázs Juhász, played two works by Bartók: the first of the Two Romanian Dances written during the winter of 1909-1910, with a strict rhythm, and then Bartók's most popular piano piece, Allegro Barbaro, written in 1911. These opuses were an hommage a Béla Bartók on the one hand, and also an hommage a Zoltán Kocsis concert pianist and condustor who unfortunately can no longer be with us, but he made Bartók's art public with his concerts and recordings. The performance of the latter two works is a living memory, it also bears the mark of Zoltán Kocsis, as the performer participated in his masterclass with these works held in September 2016 at the same location. We already have an article about that event.
After the performance of the students and their teacher, the recital's guest artist inspired the students with his great playing. Pianist László Baranyay is a laureate of numerous domestic and international piano competitions and has been teaching at the Academy of Music since 1973. In 1992 he was awarded the Franz Liszt Prize, in 1993 he received the prestigious Steinway Artist title, and in 2012 he received an award for Budapest. At our recital, he played three Chopin works: the "Raindrop" prelude, which is the most famous piece of the series of 24 pieces, the "Fantaisie Impromptu" and the ballad in F minor, which was written after Adam Mickiewitz's poem.
