„His performance always affects with self-evident power”

Mr. Miklós Perényi has been teaching at Liszt Academy since 1974 and has recently become 70 years old.

Below is the text of his laudation as it was delivered on the 13th February 2018 session of the Liszt Academy Senate.

Andrea Vigh and Miklós Perényi. Photo: Liszt Academy / László Mudra

Two Hungarian musicologists are having a chat:

- I’ve been listening to Perényi’s playing ever since I was a child, says the young one enthusiastically.

- Well – replies the older one smiling – I’ve been listening to Perényi ever since he was a child.

Miklós Perényi gave his first solo concert in April 1957 when he was nine years old.

All through the six decades of his career he has been in daily contact with the institution as an artist and as a citizen of the school first as a student, then ever since 1974 as a teacher. Although he is a cellist much in demand worldwide whose performances take place at venues of topmost distinction, Mr. Perényi is faithful to his homeland the tiny island of Hungarian music erudition, embraced by tram and trolleybus lines.

It is needless to survey the past in order to demonstrate his international recognition. In January 2018 he gave a solo concert in Wigmore Hall London, one of the citadels of European chamber music. The concert was highly acclaimed by British musical criticism. „Mr. Perényi demonstrates all what his instrument is capable of.”- wrote the critic of the Independent, not forgetting to mention the charming qualities of his playing.

„Mr. Perényi’s technical refinement is rock solid, the tone of his cello is full and rich, his interpretations are enterprising.” – According to the Times. Both reviews depicted Mr. Perényi as a teacher as well. We are pleased that one of them introduced him to the readers as Professor at the Liszt Academy. The other critic presented the concert as a master course introducing the listeners into the musical domain of Bach, Reger, Britten, Ligeti, and Kurtág.

Photo: Liszt Academy / Gábor Valuska

Regardless of playing Bach or contemporary music, Perényi’s performance ever displays axiomatic power. The unique musical phraseology connecting the locus, the age, the culture, and the character of the composer through the thorough analysis of Perényi is expounded as corresponding to something universal and of general validity. The humane wealth in the sound of his cello creates an intimately cosy sphere for the works of the greatest composers, while at the same time elevates and ennobles the music of minor masters as well.

The extraordinary dimensions of his repertoire, the ever searching musician’s disposition, vast knowledge and the diversity of his artistic experience provide the firm ground of his work. He is much in demand all over the world as an instructor of master courses and as a visiting professor.

His accomplishment has been acknowledged by the cultural and public sphere in Hungary. He holds the Ferenc Liszt Prize, Bartók-Pásztory Prize, Meritorious and Excellent Artist, the Kossuth Prize twice, the Service Medal Middle Cross of the Hungarian Republic, moreover the title of „Artist of the Nation”.

Miklós Perényi is one of the greatest contemporary musicians. It is a moment of elation and great honour when one can support with her vote the professor emeritus title for him.

(Lóránt Péteri - Head of Department, associate professor, Liszt Academy)

Photo: Kata Schiller