Major Works by Franz Liszt (Live Concert Recording) László Borbély

• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Vallée d'Obermann S.160/6:
• 1Liszt: Vallée d'Obermann S.160/613:34
• Après une lecture du Dante, S.161/7:
• 2Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante, S.161/7 15:41
• Sonata, S.178:
• 3Liszt: Sonata, S.178 29:57
• Total Runtime59:12

Info for Major Works by Franz Liszt (Live Concert Recording)

Liszt is the greatest innovator of music history ever. Studying his works and performing them I always experience the boundless freedom with which I can approach them. This, of course, does not and cannot mean that Liszt should be played with all kinds of tasteless ‛exaggerations’. At the same time, it is a requirement for all performers to follow the intentions of the author and still present a new quality to the audience. The ‛vacuum’ between the printed and sounding music is a kind of ‛no-man’s-land’ which intrigues me as a pianist. Why? Because in this field we have no protection, that is, borderline cases and critical situations are constant. Even if my previous observation sounds exaggerated, I remind the listener that without this lack of insurance the artist’s approach is not worth a bean. Not only that, but art itself would be useless, irrespective of its genre. A composer who ignores trends dares to proceed forward from the fermented musical idiom, and offsets music history with a renewal of musical language devoid of ‛spleen’ or decadence. This was Liszt and this is what he still means for us.

New wine into new bottles, paraphrasing the Bible. Liszt, defying the world, listening only inward, re-created the language of modern music with his own spiritual-mental dimensions. Let us consider why Liszt, the embodiment of the Romantic artist, should want to become a part of something where he could not develop his own creative energies? All this intention for renewal radiates from his music. This is exactly what I’m interested in as a performer: what makes a musical shape, which might look even displeasing or amorphous at first sight, become noble, pure, concrete in an artistic sense that has validity? How can a dream be real and the reality of the world transformed into a dream? And how can all this radiate? Liszt is looking for answers to all these questions, and it is not by chance that he invokes as his main inspirational forces Senancour, Byron, Dante, and last but not least Goethe, in these large-scale works, which represent, it is no exaggeration to state, the best of his oeuvre.

László Borbély, piano

László Borbély
was born in 1984. In 2007 he got his diploma with honours (Master of Music in Performance and Teaching) then his doctoral degree (Doctor of Liberal Arts) at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, where he is an assistant professor of Piano Faculty.

He played concerts at international festivals such Collegium Musicum Pommersfelden (Germany), Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander (Spain), International Holland Music Sessions in Bergen (The Netherlands), TCU/Cliburn Institute in Fort Worth (USA), FestivaLiszt in Grottammare (Italy), Liszt Festival in Raiding (Austria), Liszt Festival in Bayreuth (Germany), International Bartók Festival Ankara (Turkey), International Conservatory Week Festival Saint Petersburg (Russia), Festival der Klänge in Vienna (Austria), CAFe Budapest Festival, Budapest Spring Festival, Day of Listening (Budapest), Tiszadob Piano Festival (Hungary), Beethoven Festival Martonvásár (Hungary), Arcus Temporum Festival Pannonhalma (Hungary) and International Bartók Festival Szombathely (Hungary).

He won numerous prizes at national and international competitions. He won 2nd Prize and a special prize for the best performance of the set piece at the EPTA International Piano Competition in Osijek (Croatia) in 2001. In the same year, he won the Great Prize of the national competition of secondary music schools in Békés-Tarhos. In 2002, he won the Yamaha Scholarship Award and also two 2nd and one 3rd prizes in different divisions of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition where he won two special prizes too: prize for the „most artistic performance” and a special prize of the American Liszt Society. In 2003 he got the special prize of the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage at the national competition of the Hungarian Radio. Next Year he was first prizewinner at the Andor Földes national competition. In 2005 he won „Educational Award” at the London International Piano Competition. In 2006 he was 2nd prizewinner at the International Liszt-Bartók Piano Competition in Budapest where he got also a special prize of Budapest City. In 2009 he won 3rd prize and four special prizes at the National Haydn-Mendelssohn Piano Competition of the Hungarian Radio. He got the Annie Fischer Performers’ Scholarship three times (in 2008, 2009 and 2010). In 2009 he got „Junior Prima Prize”one of the most prestigious prize given for young artists.

He had lessons with Dmitrij Bashkirov, Gábor Csalog, Christopher Elton, Noel Flores, Péter Frankl, Márta Gulyás, Jan-Marisse Huizing, Zoltán Kocsis, György Kurtág, Claudio-Martinez Mehner, Piotr Paleczny, Murray Perrahia, Menahem Pressler, Ferenc Rados, Livia Rév, András Schiff, Tamás Ungár, Elisso Virsaladze, Mikhail Voskresensky, Tamás Vásáry and Rita Wagner.

He played concerts with prestigious artists such Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Péter Csaba (violin), Barnabás Kelemen (violin), Lajos Lencsés (oboe), Alessandro Carbonare (clarinet), Lajos Rozmán (clarinet), Judit Rajk (voice), etc.

He has recitals regularly in Hungary and other countries too.

He made recordings for Hungarian Radio and TRT Ankara. His first solo CD released in 2016 (edited by: Bayer Music Group)

He took master classes in Geneve (Switzerland), Würzburg (Germany), Tbilisi (Georgia) and gave podium-lectures in Izmir (Turkey) and Saint Petersburg (Russia).

He is member of Metrum Ensemble.

Booklet for Major Works by Franz Liszt (Live Concert Recording)