Tibor HARSÁNYI (1898-1954)
Complete Piano Works 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
Premičre Recordings
GRAND PIANO GP806 [70:13]
With this latest disc, pianist Giorgio Koukl continues his now well-trodden path of unearthing undeservingly neglected composers. Here he concentrates on Tibor Harsányi, a representative of the so-called Paris School (it comprised a group of composers who lived in Paris during the early 1920s). Paris seems to have been the go-to place for composers who wanted not only to study there but to have their music performed. Such was the French capital’s enlightened attitude towards new compositions – his despite the infamous reception of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
I cannot think of any Hungarian-born composer whose music cannot be identified as coming from that country. Harsányi never borrows directly from folk music but the Hungarian element is there just as he intended it to be. I think that the folk music of Hungary was such a feature of life there that Hungarian composers are almost driven to incorporate its essence into their music. Given that its rhythms and melodies are so powerful, even a hint of them stands out. The 5 Préludes brefs are a case in point since mere glimpses of a Hungarian atmosphere can be discerned in them.
The same can be said of the set of seven short pieces La semaine. Pour lundi and Pour mardi have strong folk-like connections while Pour mercredi is a delightfully mysterious-sounding piece that suspends time in the form of a berceuse. Pour jeudi has Harsányi’s first attempt to use jazz as a medium, something several other composers were exploring at the time, including Stravinsky and Schulhoff; the marking is Tempo di fox-trot. Pour vendredi sees the music ‘back home’. Pour samedi delivers a march-like tune. The set is rounded off by a lyrically strong but peaceful piece, as befits Pour dimanche.
Harsányi’s Pastorales are unusual in that no dynamic markings are given but the Hungarian influence comes through strongly in Élégie and also is suggested in Danse. Harsányi obviously enjoyed experimenting with the jazz idiom. The entirety of his Baby-Dancing gives his take on the sense of the era he was living in. In common with many of his musical colleagues, he believed that the spirit of the times should be mirrored in the music. Nevertheless, along with Fox-trot, Tango, Boston, Blue, Samba and One-step (all of them highly successful in representing this exciting time), he cannot resist the inclusion of the Hungarian Csárdás.
Cinq bagatelles, written following a tour to Indonesia as pianist (surely a pretty unusual thing to do in the 1920s), show strongly stated rhythmic melodic lines; each of them could have been easily developed into something more substantial. You have to admire anyone who can so readily toss off five short works, full of invention, as if they were ‘mere bagatelles’.
Harsányi’s 5 Études rythmiques strangely had to wait almost twenty years before they were published in England in 1952. This seems hard to understand since they are, as the accompanying brochure states, “…one of Harsányi’s most sophisticated compositions, with artistic quality being in prime focus”. I was not surprised to read that the work uses ‘interpoint’, developed by friend and colleague Alexander Tcherepnin. Tcherepnin had a highly individual style which I was privileged to explore when I reviewed all eight of his Complete Piano Music series, played by Giorgio Koukl. (The series also appeared on Grand Piano, a marvellous label which delves into the furthest reaches of piano repertoire that few others dip their toes into.)
Vocalise-Étude ‘Blues’ is a blues version of Harsányi’s Vocalise-Étude. Intriguingly, it is described as a ‘version for piano’ which I took to mean that the original was an orchestral piece (?). On the strength of all these marvellously crafted works, I am most eager to hear anything Harsányi wrote for orchestra, or for any other combinations of instruments.
The final offering on this first disc in the series of Harsányi’s complete piano music is a brilliant set of 6 Pičces courtes. They show more of the composer’s ability to dash off highly inventive, melodically rich and endlessly fascinating piano pieces with what appears such consummate ease. The first piece alternates between an orderly march-like theme with delicate almost feather-light interludes. The Allegro, as Gérald Hugon writes in the brochure, “…anticipates some of the quintuple Bulgarian rhythms that appear in Bartók’s Mikrokosmos”. I wondered whether, like Bartók, he collected Hungarian, Romanian and Bulgarian folk music with which to populate his music, or whether the Hungarian influences in many of the pieces here are purely examples of an ingrained love of the music of his homeland (demonstrated by so many of his compatriots, from Bartók to Kodály and Rozsa).
In any event Giorgio Koukl – with his clear commitment to the music he plays that is evident throughout (as always!) – has once again opened our ears to one more hitherto neglected composer. As a result of this disc and with more to come, Harsányi will emerge from obscurity into the light of deserved recognition; if Koukl has anything to do with it that is a forgone conclusion!
Steve Arloff
