On February 10th, the National Philharmonic Orchestra staged its final concert at the Music Academy. The orchestra bade farewell to the country's most beautiful Art Nouveau building in the appropriate style with works from the turn of the 20th century. As befits Zoltán Kocsis's tastes, he chose French works (although how Richard Strauss's little known […]
Zoltán Kocsis assembled an unusual programme with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Between two popular numbers (Dukas: The Sourcerer's Apprentice; Debussy: La Mer) he placed a pair of barely known works (Richard Strauss: Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra; Gabriel Fauré: Ballada for piano and orchestra) into a sandwich. As a filling, the French pianist, Michel Dalberto […]
If a fairy were to appear and say: “my dear boy, you are living in Budapest, you know that nothing can be perfect, so please make a choice. Should the new concert hall be beautiful or should it have good acoustics?” I don't think I would have hesitated to think for a moment. Let it […]
I believe I am one of the few who was not surprised when the internationally celebrated pianist Zoltán Kocsis moved across to the conductor's podium: I had never sensed such an orchestral sonority par excellence, such an orchestra fullness, in anyone else's piano playing. He has not just taken up the conductor's baton but in […]
