Jean-Efflam Bavouzet & Balázs Szokolay – Two Pianos Recital A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, one of today’s most exciting and major French pianists, has several links to Hungary. Besides his friendship and professional relations with Zoltán Kocsis, Bavouzet is considered to be the last important protégé of the elderly Sir Georg Solti. After the pianist’s triumph at the 1987 International Beethoven Competition, Solti invited him to perform at a concert that launched his international career. He is an accomplished interpreter of the music of Haydn (his entire Haydn series was lauded to the skies by critics), and he is considered among the foremost exponents of Debussy and Ravel. He is also a keen proponent of contemporary music (he has a close relationship with Pierre Boulez). Balázs Szokolay, associate professor at the Liszt Academy, and Zoltán Rácz and Aurél Holló, two members of Amadinda Percussion Ensemble, are his partners at this chamber recital. Bavouzet himself transcribed Debussy’s late masterpiece Jeux for two pianos, while the first two movements of Nocturnes were transcribed by Ravel and the last by Kocsis, who also transcribed Bartók’s Two Images for orchestra. Without doubt, the headline work is the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, one of the highpoints of Bartók’s oeuvre.