You will perform with Kristóf Barát and István Várdai at the Academy of Sciences? assembly hall on the 26th, playing works by Ravel and Messiaen. How did you prepare this programme?
We wanted to play a 20th century French chamber concert, primarily because of Messiaen?s composition Quartet, and we matched this with a duet and a trio by Ravel. During the concert, the number of musicians on the stage will increase. In a certain sense, chamber music is completely the same whether played by two people or five. At the same time, there are great differences because by involving more musicians in a composition, in addition to lead and reactionary roles, playing becomes polyphonic.
Do you prefer playing chamber music with others or by yourself?
That?s a difficult one to answer because they are very different and impossible to compare. I like playing solo pieces because then I can decide everything that happens on stage. I do not depend on anything only on the reactions of the audience. At the same time, what?s good about chamber music is that it is the summary of many things and you often have to take over or hand over leadership. It is very inspiring when you can join your partners unconditionally, almost like in a car, even when someone else is leading the way, you can still feel that the direction is good and there is no reason to worry.
Which one of your upcoming concerts would you highlight?
We will play difficult and important pieces on Monday and I am also looking forward to concerts in the summer, for instance playing Liszt?s Malediction with the MÁV Symphonic Orchestra, which is a very unique composition, And I?ll play several solo concerts, finally also in Hungary.
It is not easy these days to build a solo career. What direction are you taking?
I increasingly realise that my way will be different from the usual path. I have played at many competitions and will certainly play some more but the world of contests is like gambling to me, something like roulette. I have participated in more than 12 competitions and that was enough to draw some conclusions. My playing has always divided the jury. When I?m lucky with the jury, then I can win but when I?m not, then I drop out after the first round. The rule of thumb is (with few exceptions) that those people win most competitions who least divide the jury. I do not enjoy the confined atmosphere of contests where you have to ?please? a jury of eight or ten people and you have to ?impress them.? I do not want to impress but give something and say something. And if they like what I say, that makes me happy. I do not want to get invited to play because I have won or received some form of recognition but because they know that I play in a way that keeps the audience interested.
That?s a difficult path. Is it working?
I would be happy to play more concerts but I cannot complain. And I would like certain appearances to become more regular. I can see very many returning faces in the audience at my concerts and many people come to see me and tell me that they had never heard certain compositions the way I played them. And what?s most important to me is that they understand my message and are receptive to what I?m doing.
You also have your own manager. How did you meet the head of Starlet, Csilla Bíró?
Csilla was a gift. She called me in 2006 and asked me to send in a programme proposal for a London concert. I put it together but the concert never happened. However, Csilla came to listen to me at several concerts and she offered me to look after my career. I gladly accepted.
You always excel at putting together your programme. Not only do you select pieces with great care but you also give a title to the concert and write accompanying notes to it?
Preparing the programme is indeed important to me because I want to hand over a very concrete ?package? to the audience, with the different items also influencing each other. It?s important to me that when someone comes to a concert, they should not (only) have a good time, but by contributing to the development of the music, they should also get something to take back home. Because every concert ? no matter how strange this may sound ? comprises two sides: the performer and the audience. To me the public is just as much part of the creative process as the artist.
You have received your diploma at the Music Academy, you play more and more successful concerts, and next to your post-graduate training, you also study abroad. You are a student at Tel-Aviv University, under Emanuel Krasovsky. Do you enjoy studying that much?
I have been planning for years to add some foreign knowledge to what I had learnt so far. To go away somewhere, not just to be away from home but in order to learn about trends and attitudes different from those in Hungary. I felt the need for something fresh, to acquire new impressions and to become even stronger in the things I was already good at.
And why did you choose Professor Krasovsky?
I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the Hungarofest Klassz Music office which enabled me to spend this most definitive year in Israel. I can thank Tel-Aviv for a series of lucky coincidences. With the help of my former teacher Márta Gulyás, we asked Dmitry Bashkirov to help me find a position at a foreign university, under a good master. That?s how I ended up with Krasovsky.
How does the blood transfusion work?
I think the mere fact that I had left made a good influence on me. I really love Hungary; this is where I feel at home. But I missed seeing myself and my life from the outside, from a different place. In addition, thanks to recent months, I experienced a new path in piano playing and I feel that all the work I have put into this slowly settles in, finding a more permanent place. It?s just like when a piano tuner is tuning the instrument. He keeps adjusting it, tuning it, testing it. And at the end, he drives in the nail that fixes the chords, to keep the piano in tune.
Is this also noticeable in your playing?
That?s not for me to decide but for those who listen to me. I have certainly changed and keep changing, hopefully for the better. The time must come in any young musician?s life when he can already feel that he has acquired something, but he still has a few questions and seeks new inspiration. I don?t think that I am completely reformed but I listen to the critics with open ears.
And are you going to continue your studies somewhere else after the year ends?
I feel like coming up to a summation. I do not want to go anywhere else but perhaps I?ll stay in Tel-Aviv a little more. I might get a scholarship. I enjoy living there. And all the places I have seen. It?s a gift.
In the meantime, you are continuing your postgraduate training. How far did you get with Chinese?
I think this Chinese course has become a ?marketing point? in my life, even though I have only learnt it for one year, purely out of curiosity. Well, I have not managed to reach advanced level? But I never intended to become an interpreter. The postgraduate training is quite flexible, we can pick classes as we like, so I studied Chinese and architecture last year.
I guess part of the reason is what you once said, that you have wanted to become so many things in your life: astronomer, train driver, actor; and you can exercise all of these interests while playing the piano? Playing which compositions makes you feel like a train driver?
It?s more like an impression, something I can associate with playing music. But to me art is not something that exists on its own but a dynamic and lively phenomenon that feeds on everyday life.
So you are not looking at your environment from an ivory tower.
I try to build my musical world based on the real world. To me music has always been life itself.
And what are you planning to build in the next few years? What is your most important task?
Studying. I don?t mean another university or another teacher, but to expand my repertoire. Works I need to learn await in long lines. Not because I will have to play them at concerts but because I long for them, I want to deal with them. It?s the most important thing for a performing artist to have something to do. It?s very different from climbing hills: when you must conquer the peak. In my case what?s important is to be on the way and to go, go, go. To always carry on, higher and higher. I will certainly play at competitions and at concerts but what drives me is to carry on working, to do my job and play music.
Interviewer: Zsuzsanna Réfi / Photo: Dániel Kováts
