’Guitar – not only for singles, but for pairs as well’
The fifth Budapest International Guitar Festival is to be held this year, keeping the guitar in chamber music in focus this time. We asked the founder of the festival: Liszt Prize winning guitarrist József Eötvös, head of Strings Department at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music regarding the programme and the performing artists.
You are passionate about making guitar music and education widely known. Budapest International Guitar Festival – one of the several projects maintained by you – has become more and more popular recently. What were the core themes of the previous events?
The Budapest International Guitar Festival got under way in 2014. Competitions are held triennially with festivals in the intering years. In 2015 contemporary Cuban music filled the Grand Hall of the Academy and 2016’s program was a tribute to Astor Piazzolla through his works.
What will this year’s festival focus on?
They say guitar is a lonely instrument. Most of the guitarrists prefer to play alone, rather than joined by an orchestra or chamber music partners. Luckily there are several counterexamples to prove that guitar can be played double or in couple. All three performances will represent this idea. First concert is deticated to two different instruments, starring the guitar and the cello, the second one is given by a husband-wife guitarrist duo, and the final evening will feature two brilliantly talented young guitarrist ladies from China.
Guitar with cello is quite an unconventional pairing. How do these two relate to each other? And how do they interact to create harmony when played by German Anja Lechter and Argenitinian Pablo Márquez?
An extraordinary combination indeed, given that the two instruments are different in tone but similar in pitch. This makes many people think that their interference can weaken or even cancel each other’s sound but in my oppininon their differing tones combined with the players’ appropriate technique make them convenient to complement one another and create a new, complex sound. This evening cello and guitar will be equal partners. The broad spectrum of Anja Lechner’s work embraces several genres from Bach to contemporary music while Pablo Marquez is widely recognized as one of the leading interpreters of contemporary guitar music. This night, which is also the launch of their new album is going to be dedicated to romanticism with Schubert’s and Bruchmüller’s works in center.
Your eyes are immediately drawn to the picture of a couple, embracing each other and the guitar. The Spanish-Cuban wife-husband duo: Anabel Montesinos and Marco Tamayo are due to play on the 10th of November.
I have known Marco Tamayo since he was a child. We’ve met in Cuba and have been friends since than. Now he is a professor at the Mozarteum and performes all around the globe as a soloist and gives concerts with his wife Anabel as a duo. Anabel, winner of multiply competitions is no less laudable for showing the feminine side of the guitar – widely considered to be an instrument for men. This concert will consist of works by Rossini, Debussy and Joaquin Rodrigo, a composer known by his guitar concerto. As of the picture in the brochure: it’s not a set photo taken in a studio; John Rowland for exaple has composed a galliard for one lute and four hands to conquer his pupil’s heart during practice, now Anabel and Marco will play an own adaptation for four hands as an encore – let the title be surprise. Perfect coordination and harmony is a must for such a play as hands can easily foul. This harmony can be found in Anabel’s and Marco’s play.
Meng Su’s and Yameng Wang’s chamber concert on the third day is shaping up to be exciting. Why exactly these two young artists have been invited?
I know only three persons all over the world who had Manuel Barrueco, greatest living guitarrist as their mentor, two of them are Meng and Yameng, brilliant talents both separately and combined. They have toured as a duo for five years now, having concerts all around the world but Central Europe is still a new stage for them. Having them here is a great fortune for us, so Hungary can be the first from the region to see them.
After 2017 the young guitarrists will have the possibility to compete next time in 2020. What experiences has last year’s competition given?
In 2014 no Hungarian competitor has qualified from the semi finals, last year Lotti Szalai – student at Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Academy of Music – became a finalist as only Hungarian and won the awards for the best Hungarian competitor as well as the award for the best female competitor and the audience award – I regard it as a success. Hopefully next time we’ll have even better results. This competition is a great possibility for Hungarian youngsters to place and position themselves on the world map.
Anna Unger