Bartók World Competition and Festival – Final A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

The six best competitors make it through to the Final of the Bartók World Competition and Festival, the programme of which is exclusively Mozart’s violin concertos. Mozart held a central position in the musical universe of Bartók. In an instructive publication, he released sheet music of Mozart sonatas and as a performer he also regularly engaged with the composer: he was equally happy playing his solo pieces as chamber works or concertos, and it is not surprising that his legendary farewell concert in 1940 featured a Mozart double piano concerto, which he performed in partnership with his wife, Ditta Pásztory. “Through Bartók, we discover a totally new Mozart, the real one,” wrote Júlia Székely, a student of Bartók, continuing: “hard, verging on knocking fortes, pianos, which were far from refined but sounded in a unified tone, clear, closed articulation. No mannerisms, no theatricalities, absolutely no virtuoso exhibitionism.” Of course, Bartók’s image of Mozart does not necessarily have to influence the competitors, but one thing is certain: the world of Mozart violin concertos represents perhaps the most sensitive area in the entire repertoire of the instrument. Anyone not meeting his or her Waterloo in these works at competition is destined for a career as a musician.