Tibor HARSÁNYI (1898-1954)
Complete Piano Works - Volume 1
5 Préludes brefs (1928) [9:44]
La semaine (1924) [11:07]
Pastorales (1934) [6:5]
Baby-Dancing (1934) [10:55]
5 Bagatelles (1930) [10:04]
5 Études rythmiques (c.1933) [9:46]
Vocalise-Étude ‘Blues’ (version for piano) (1929) [2:42]
6 Pičces courtes (1927) [9:00]
Giorgio Koukl (piano)
rec. 2019, Studio Bottega del Pianoforte, Lugano, Switzerland
GRAND PIANO GP806 [70:13]
Tibor Harsányi’s name may be familiar to those readers whose interests extend to the fringes of music history and repertoire, especially to those who have an interest in the cultural life of Paris between the wars. Born in Szeged on Hungary’s south-eastern border with Romania and Serbia, Harsányi was a piano prodigy who studied with Kodály before serving in the trenches during the latter stages of the First World War. Soon afterwards he found success in Budapest with his first ballet The Final Dream (1920) but in due course he left the economic and social strife of his homeland behind and settled in Paris, like many other artists from Eastern Europe. Along with figures such as Tansman, Tcherepnin (fils), Martinů and Mihalovici he was associated with L’École de Paris, the ad hoc group of émigré composers which emerged in that city contemporaneously with the more renowned local collective Les Six.
Scouring the catalogues and lists for more recorded Harsányi has proved somewhat unproductive. Old listings suggest that his 1950 work for children L'histoire du petit tailleur (scored for narrator, septet and percussion) was at one time a popular alternative to Peter and the Wolf or The Carnival of the Animals, but the only currently available disc entirely devoted to his work is ‘A Hungarian in Paris’, a Naxos album from 2016 (8.573556) which includes his early Violin Sonatina, a Violin Sonata (which dates from his early years in Paris) and the more romantically inclined Viola Sonata (1954) which proved to be his last work. All these pieces are given in accounts of clarity and elegance by the American duo Charles Wetherbee and David Korevaar; it arguably offers a worthier overview of Harsányi’s style and development than the new disc, focusing as it does upon his approach to more extended forms.
Which is not to say that the present issue is without its attractions. Billed as ‘Volume 1’ of a complete edition of Harsányi’s piano works, the disc concentrates exclusively on his first decade in Paris, and includes seven collections of miniatures, plus the stand-alone Vocalise-Etude ‘Blues’ of 1929, an arrangement for piano of a cool number which originally involved the voice; this piece at once conveys the Parisian zeitgeist with verve and panache.
A major strand of the Grand Piano label’s mission over the last decade or so has been to provide comprehensive editions of the piano output of an array of little-known figures. While this is both useful and potentially revelatory the flip-side of such an ambitious project is neatly illustrated by this release. It contains forty individual pieces, all of which last between 61 and 174 seconds. While they are divided into suites which individually, on paper suggest some over-arching theme like the days of the week (La Semaine) , or rhythm (Études Rythmiques), or dance styles of the 1920s (Baby-Dancing), the problem is that their very brevity often renders them almost indistinguishable from one another. In quicker numbers Harsányi projects a style which often melds the flavours of twenties Paris and jazz with a Hungarian folk tang that (unsurprisingly given his training) probably owes more to Kodaly than Bartók. This is evident in the three middle pieces of the Five Brief Preludes, for example, or the swifter numbers in La Semaine (Pour jeudi, Pour vendredi, Pour samedi) or the 6 Pičces courtes, although the Lento in the latter set is a rather Bartókian dirge.
Generally speaking though, Harsányi reveals more of his own stylistic personality in the more expressive slower movements – examples include the two Lento pieces which bookend the Five Brief Preludes – these are actually devoid of metrical indications and Georgio Koukl conveys a wistful, improvisational freedom in his accounts of both. Even more attractive are La Semaine’s glittering nocturne Pour mercredi and its concluding number Pour dimanche, whose strange progressions, descending bass and pentatonic melodies suggest a kind of Magyar La Cathédrale engloutie. Perhaps the sequence which least relies upon the manners, aesthetics and spirit of the place and period in which Harsányi found himself is the latest, the Pastorales of 1934; its opening Prelude displays some novel uses of syncopation, the Élégie makes free with an unusual, repeated six chord pattern while the Musette, placed third is flecked with bitonality.
While none of the miniatures in these sets will offend, neither are they likely to force listeners to stop in their tracks and muse upon the eternal verities. At best some of Harsányi’s ideas may well raise a wry smile. This is always likely to be the case with a collection such as this - it’s arguably more designed to fill a gap on a completist’s shelves than offer a rounded listening experience per se. I suspect we will discover something more enduring and revealing in Volume 2 which I assume will include Harsányi’s longer pieces including a Rhapsody from 1925 and a Sonata from 1928. The experienced pianist Georgio Koukl (a refined and sympathetic house artist over the years for Naxos and its sibling enterprises) proves to be a reliable guide to this repertoire although he is at his best when Harsányi’s music provides more obvious opportunities for expressivity. The Steinway ’D’ on which this disc is recorded sounds pretty authentic, although it can seem a little metallic in the highest register. I suspect in the end this worthy issue will appeal more to specialists than the general listening public
Richard Hanlon
Previous review: Steve Arloff
