Fülöp Ránki piano recital

In all, Zoltán Kodály composed just enough solo pieces for piano for one concise concert programme, if we count only the works for the concert podium, and these are from the first half of his career. The Meditation on a Motif by Debussy is a testimony to Kodály's youthful trip to Paris. Debussy's music and tone can be heard in the Nine Piano Pieces and the Seven Piano Pieces.

The program is implemented in cooperation with the Ars Sacra Festival.

Participation in the program is free, but registration is required. Those interested can register at the link below.

The Nine Piano Pieces, together with the pithy Valsette, were performed at Kodály's first recital in 1910, showcasing the composer's revolutionary new style of expression. Seven Piano Pieces followed these exciting, extremely modern works, and were the product of the following few years, a series of somewhat more rounded and mature, but still very modern compositions. The idea for writing Dances of Marosszék came to Kodály when he was asked to write a new orchestral work for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda in 1923. However, as Bartók had composed Dance Suite for this event, Kodály refrained from composing a series of dance movements himself, so – after writing Psalmus Hungaricus for the jubilee – it was only years later that he composed Dances of Marosszék, first in the form of a piano piece, followed later by the well-known symphonic orchestral version. As a fellow of the MMA between 2021 and 2024, Fülöp Ránki is expanding his repertoire with works by Hungarian and French composers, and one of the important stages of this work will be the performance of all Kodály’s piano pieces.

photographer: Róza Radnóti