William Penn Life, 1982 (17. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1982-10-01 / 4. szám

Atilla Falvay and Tamas Szabó, violins; Gabor Fias, viola; and Janos Devich, cello—the quartet was granted the use of the name by Kodaly’s widow in 1970.

Last evening, the Kodály Quartet, sponsored by the William Penn Society in conjunction with the Duquesne University School of Music, made a splendid appearance in the School of Music Recital Flail. The program featured Kodaly’s String Quartet No. 2, which the group has performed more than 800 times all over the world, along with Quartet No. 3 by fellow countryman Bela Bartók, and the popular “American” Quartet of their Bohemian neighbor Antonin Dvorak.

It was fascinating to hear the Kodály and Bartók quartets, monuments of the 20th century literature by the giants of Flungarian music, brought so brilliantly to life by performers whose roots are the same as the composers’. It was also encouraging to see the enthusiastic support for the event from Pittsburgh’s active, tightly knit Hungarian community.

The Kodály opus, dating from 1918, is the mellower, more overtly appealing of the two. It is a gorgeous piece, filled with eloquent melodic lines, and the players imparted to it dark-hued tone, warmth of expression and inevitable control over their forces. Precious few string quartets on the boards today can boast such discipline, unfailing intonation and unanimity. And most important, they brought Kodaly’s music to life in every phrase.

The six Bartók quartets are of course better known. They are this century’s answer to Beethoven’s output in this genre, most familiar in America via the razor-sharp, texturally transparent interpretations of the Juilliard String Quartet. And Quartet No. 3 is in some ways the most difficult of all. It is the shortest, a single 20-minute movement divided into four broadly defined sections, craggy in its rhythmic syntax and uncompromising in its intensity.

The Kodály players opted for a fullblooded approach, thicker in tone than that of their Juilliard counterparts across the Atlantic, though no less precise or structurally lucid. It was a memorable reading that demanded the listeners’ complete concentration from first note to last, and seemed to go on even after the last chord had faded away.

After intermission, there was the Dvorak Quartet, distinctly lighter fare to balance the density of the first half. It was also a touching tribute to their host country, and the ensemble gave it its due.

Kodály ’s Music Brought to Life

On Thursday, October 14, 1982, the Kodály String Quartet performed in Pittsburgh. The following review was published in the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette Newspaper the next day.

By Robert Croan Post-Gazette Music Critic

An article on Hungarian music last year quoted a musician in Budapest as saying that there are too many good musicians in Hungary today. Because of the unusually good musical training that is prevalent in Hungarian elementary schools—a unique music education method developed by composer Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)—the country produces more professional caliber musicians than the culture can absorb.

The right to use Kodaly’s name is a coveted privilege granted to only a few top-level performing groups. One such ensemble is the Kodály String Quartet, making its first American tour this year to mark the Kodály centenary. Formed by four prize-winning graduates of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest—

TOM SHERVINSKIE

(Penn State—State College, Pa.)

RICHARD SPITZKOPF

(Georgia Institute of Technology)

LINDA TOKI

(Indiana University of Pennsylvania)

CYNTHIA ZOLDEY

(West Virginia University)

DEBORAH STILIHA

(Massachusetts College of Pharmacy)

STEPHEN VECHY

(Penn State University)

NOT PICTURED: SHELLEY BAGOLY

(Penn State University)

CHRISTOPHER LONG

(University of West Virginia)

JULIANN LONG

(University of Pittsburgh)

JENNIFER ORLICK

(Denison University—Ohio)

SHARON TOTH

(Seton Hall University—N.J.)

DIANE SZ0B0TA

(St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing Hartford, Conn.)

JENNIFER VRBANIC

(Lake Erie College—Ohio)

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