Hommage à Dénes Kovács A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

“He was the servant of two masters. One was music, the other the Liszt Academy. (…) He was a great violinist and a great teacher. He had an air of authority and certainty: rigour. But his playing was similarly strict: strictly precise, strictly faithful to the composer and work. He was a precise person. Always precise, precise in everything: in interpretation, when classes started. (…) He was from an age in which violinists played violin in the belief that it was sufficient just to play violin for violin playing. He was a proud, dignified violinist. Puritan, with not a scrap of marketing. Thus a stranger to the modern world. Dénes Kovács not only died. He died out from amongst us.” These are the words Iván Bächer chose to bid farewell – ten years ago – to one of the 20th century’s most significant violinists, one of the most influential rectors of the Liszt Academy, who ran the institute between 1971-1980. He is associated with the foundation of the class for outstanding talents, the reformation of orchestral teaching, the creation of a separate department for chamber music, and to a certain extent the introduction of an early music approach: the Liszt Academy acquired its first harpsichord under his rectorship. On the 85th anniversary of his birth, and tenth anniversary of his death, his former students, teachers of the String Department, his spiritual grandchildren and great grandchildren, students of the department, gather to pay tribute to the memory of Dénes Kovács.