The forthcoming Bartók mini-festival at the Queen Elisabeth Hall (5, 7 and 10 June) is likely to be of an exceptional artistic quality and it provides an unusual programme. All six of Bartók's string quartets will be performed; each concert will feature two of them (at the beginning and at the end of the concert respectively) and between the quartets we will also hear important as well as delightful piano compositions such as selections from For Children and Mikrokosmos, the Suite, Op.14, the Piano Sonata and several folk song transcriptions.
And as if that was not enough, the second violin-piano sonata will be performed too.
With such a rich but unusual programme on offer and with such an unusual combination of players in the string quartet, I was so fascinated that I interviewed three of the performers: pianist András Schiff, cellist Miklós Perényi and violinist Gábor Takács-Nagy.
This festival of concerts is the brainchild of András Schiff. He feels that while Bartók's string quartets can be - and indeed, often are - performed in cycles, Bartók's piano compositions do not fit so well into cycles on their own. Schiff is also very interested in contrasting large forms with small forms (hence, presumably, the Piano Sonata and the Suite, Op.14, as well as many short piano pieces in the programme). Another of Schiff's interests is the contrast between different sounds, which - at this mini-festival - will be provided by the piano and the string instruments. Schiff and his chamber music partners at these Bartók mini-festivals - they have already presented this cycle in Florence, Zurich, partially in Milan and will perform it in Vienna and Brussels - are Hungarian musicians and therefore have a deep affinity with Bartók's music; as Schiff put it, 'Bartók's music is our mother tongue'.
Though Bartók is a respected 'classical' composer, Schiff sees it as his mission to continue to show as many aspects of his music as possible. This sense of mission seems to extend even to encouraging fellow musicians to perform Bartók. The great solo cellist Miklós Perényi cannot play Bartók - except for a single piece which Bartók composed for cello and piano - unless he plays the string quartets. So Schiff organises such Bartók cycles partly to make sure that Perényi puts his skills into Bartók's service. Schiff is also keen to encourage Gábor Takács-Nagy to play string quartets again.
I spoke to Gábor Takács-Nagy on 25 March which - as he keenly pointed out - happens to be Bartók's birthday. Takács-Nagy formed the Takács Quartet (who still bear his name and happen to be Associate Artists of the South Bank Centre) in 1975, but left the quartet at the end of 1992 as he wanted to return to Europe. (At the time the Takács Quartet was resident at Colorado, Denver.) Takács-Nagy now lives and teaches (ten quartets) in Geneva, but he also gives master classes all over the world (including Prussia Cove and London). He is also a conductor. Indeed, for the past four years he has spent more time on conducting than on teaching or violin playing. He formed the Camerata Bellerive, an ensemble originally consisting of his students and friends, which was an off-shot of the Bellerive Festival (run for the past 22 years by Takács-Nagy's English-born Swiss wife). He also conducts established Hungarian orchestras with word-class soloists such as Zoltán Kocsis and Miklós Perényi. The relationship between Takács-Nagy and the Takács Quartet is very good: he plans to invite them to Budapest to perform Spohr's composition for string quartet and large orchestra, conducted by Takács-Nagy. Another such collaboration would be a concerto for string quartet and orchestra by Hungarian-Swiss composer Sándor Veress: the piece was originally written for Sándor Végh's quartet. Takács-Nagy is looking forward to his performance of the second Bartók violin-piano sonata with András Schiff at the June mini-festival.
I first heard Miklós Perényi play the cello when he was seven years old. He participated in a concert given by his professor at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He was exceptional as a seven-year-old and he was astonishing at his debut solo recital at the age of nine (fifty years ago). Over the past fifty years I have heard Miklós a great many times: his performances never seemed less than perfect. In our interview he told me that, 35-40 years ago, he attended the Marlborough School of Music festivals four times where he studied with Rudolf Serkin, Pablo Casals and the like. He also had the chance to listen to Bartók's quartets several times: he wished he could one day play those works. This wish came to reality nine years ago when Perényi and three other players performed Bartók's Sixth Quartet at the Schiff/Holliger festival in Switzerland. The Sixth Quartet was complimented by the other five quartets one by one. The four players are now known as the Mikrokosmos Quartet - named after Bartók's composition of progressive piano pieces - and, though they all have separate musical careers, the quartet now performs regularly. On 15 March 2007, Perényi was awarded the Kossuth Prize, the highest artistic recognition by the Hungarian State, but he told me that he was extremely proud of his Bartók Prize which he received 20 years ago. Perényi is a professor of the cello at the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy of Music.
The second violinist and the viola player in the Mikrokosmos quartet - Zoltán Tuska and Sándor Papp - play in a Budapest orchestra and teach. In addition, they both play regularly in András Schiff's chamber orchestra, Capella Andrea Barca (which is Ensemble András Schiff when translated into Italian), which Schiff organises from his Florence home.
A fascinating Bartók programme, a fascinating combination of players and a fascinating pianist driving it all. Miss this Bartók mini-festival at your peril!
By Agnes Kory