SZABOLCS ESZTÉNYI (b.1939): 6 Studies, 3 New Studies, Concertino, The Garden's Gates, Toccata.

Catalogue Number: 03J116
Label: Dux
Reference: 0593
Format: CD
Price: $18.98
Description: In these works for two pianos, composer-pianist Esztényi demonstrates a clear affinity with the pianistic traditions of the past - specifically, the 19th and early 20th centuries - while expanding the instrument's timbral palette through various modern techniques. There is an emphasis on sound - the huge range and variety of beautiful sound that a piano can produce; everything Esztényi does is in opposition to the use of the instrument as a merely convenient medium for the presentation of notes in skeletal form; all these compositions are fully fleshed out in sensuous 3-dimensional relief. Sometimes, as in The Garden's Gates this emphasis on sonority takes over almost entirely; the work is a shimmering impressionistic soundscape with the instruments 'prepared' and much direct contact on the strings. Elsewhere, as in the studies, more conventional playing - fast repeated accompanimental chordal writing - establishes a fluid harmonic field over which melodic fragments float. The Concertino and the New Etudes are further still from any suggestion of minimalism or new-ageism, with jazzy syncopations and lively melodiousness - witty and appealing, with echoes of Gershwin, Milhaud and Shostakovich. All the pieces are thoroughly tonal, though with the inclusion of substantial dissonance and clusters which, in context, sound more like extended 'orchestration' of the piano textures than interruptions to the harmonic argument. Iwona Mironiuk, Szabolcs Esztényi (pianos).