László Vidovszky
László Vidovszky was born at Békéscsaba on 25 February 1944. He began his composition studies with Géza Szatmári at the Szeged Conservatory in 1959, and continued them with Ferenc Farkas at the Budapest Academy of Music (1962-67).
In 1970-71, he attended courses organised in Paris by the Groupe des Recherches Musicales and composition classes of Olivier Messiaen. In 1970, Vidovszky was co-founder of the Budapest New Music Studio. He has been an active member ever since, both as composer and as performer.
He taught music theory at the Teachers Training College of the Budapest Academy of Music (1972-1984). In 1984 he was appointed Head of the Music Departement at the University of Pécs in Southern Hungary, a position which he held till 1988. He was appointed as the first Dean of the recently founded Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at the same university (1996-2000). At the same time he became professor of composition at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest (1999-). Recently he also leads the Institut of Medial Arts at the University of Pécs.
His compositions are performed at many contemporary music festival (Aspen Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, ISCM World Music Days, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Salzburg Festival, Warsaw Autumn etc.). His works have been recorded by BMC, Hungaroton and his music is published by Editio Musica (Budapest). László Vidovszky is a full member of Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts.
Awards: 1983 Erkel Award , 1992 Bartók-Pásztory Award , 1996 Merited Artist , 2001 Soros Foundation Creators Award , 2004 Knight's Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary , 2010 Kossuth Prize
In 1970-71, he attended courses organised in Paris by the Groupe des Recherches Musicales and composition classes of Olivier Messiaen. In 1970, Vidovszky was co-founder of the Budapest New Music Studio. He has been an active member ever since, both as composer and as performer.
He taught music theory at the Teachers Training College of the Budapest Academy of Music (1972-1984). In 1984 he was appointed Head of the Music Departement at the University of Pécs in Southern Hungary, a position which he held till 1988. He was appointed as the first Dean of the recently founded Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at the same university (1996-2000). At the same time he became professor of composition at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest (1999-). Recently he also leads the Institut of Medial Arts at the University of Pécs.
His compositions are performed at many contemporary music festival (Aspen Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, ISCM World Music Days, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Salzburg Festival, Warsaw Autumn etc.). His works have been recorded by BMC, Hungaroton and his music is published by Editio Musica (Budapest). László Vidovszky is a full member of Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts.
Awards: 1983 Erkel Award , 1992 Bartók-Pásztory Award , 1996 Merited Artist , 2001 Soros Foundation Creators Award , 2004 Knight's Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary , 2010 Kossuth Prize
REVERB
The echo is the most suitable and probably the only genuine instrument that can help us feel the presence of space. The interior of a great hall or a cathedral can be an astonishing sight, but it is only sound that can suggest its true dimensions. For us space only becomes reality with the help of time. In the music of our time reverb is the main evocative of artificial space. We aim to substitute for the sense of entrapment and overcrowding by exaggerating and artificially multiplying the sound. But can we recover lost time with the help of space? Archeologists would certainly say yes. In this composition, written for piano and string quintet, I was not searching for the conventional possibilities of the piano quintet, but for the acoustic distance between the two types of sound. The sounds of the piano are not meant to be the acoustic-harmonic support for the strings, but it is the string quartet that appears as the acoustic extension of the piano. Other times the single instruments of the quartet sound more or less independently of each other and they echo each other. Their asynchrony multiplies the sound-space, like the loose play of peasant musicians. Are two hundred years close? Or are they far away? Mecseknádasd, for example, is close to where I am writing these lines right now. A small village less than 30 minutes' drive away, halfway between Pécs and Szekszárd. The cardinals of Pécs had their summer residence there, and Liszt stayed at the castle as a guest when he was traveling from Szekszárd to Pécs to give a concert. He also wrote a choir piece there for the Pécs choral society, based on a poem by János Garay, a less well-known poet from Szekszárd. (Zoltán Kodály composed a musical piece entitled Háry János based on another poem by the same poet.) The title of the poem was "Patakcsa", and it is said to be the first Hungarian text that Liszt set to music. However, such a word no longer exists in the Hungarian language. Everything passes and everything is far away. But it is in the cemetery of the same village where Theresa Hengl rests, whose epitaph was immortalized by György Kurtág in the final movement of Three Old Inscriptions. Everything is close. (László Vidovszky)
The echo is the most suitable and probably the only genuine instrument that can help us feel the presence of space. The interior of a great hall or a cathedral can be an astonishing sight, but it is only sound that can suggest its true dimensions. For us space only becomes reality with the help of time. In the music of our time reverb is the main evocative of artificial space. We aim to substitute for the sense of entrapment and overcrowding by exaggerating and artificially multiplying the sound. But can we recover lost time with the help of space? Archeologists would certainly say yes. In this composition, written for piano and string quintet, I was not searching for the conventional possibilities of the piano quintet, but for the acoustic distance between the two types of sound. The sounds of the piano are not meant to be the acoustic-harmonic support for the strings, but it is the string quartet that appears as the acoustic extension of the piano. Other times the single instruments of the quartet sound more or less independently of each other and they echo each other. Their asynchrony multiplies the sound-space, like the loose play of peasant musicians. Are two hundred years close? Or are they far away? Mecseknádasd, for example, is close to where I am writing these lines right now. A small village less than 30 minutes' drive away, halfway between Pécs and Szekszárd. The cardinals of Pécs had their summer residence there, and Liszt stayed at the castle as a guest when he was traveling from Szekszárd to Pécs to give a concert. He also wrote a choir piece there for the Pécs choral society, based on a poem by János Garay, a less well-known poet from Szekszárd. (Zoltán Kodály composed a musical piece entitled Háry János based on another poem by the same poet.) The title of the poem was "Patakcsa", and it is said to be the first Hungarian text that Liszt set to music. However, such a word no longer exists in the Hungarian language. Everything passes and everything is far away. But it is in the cemetery of the same village where Theresa Hengl rests, whose epitaph was immortalized by György Kurtág in the final movement of Three Old Inscriptions. Everything is close. (László Vidovszky)