“It is also a great advantage for the musicians to play and rehearse in the castle, because large spaces are always awe-inspiring moments for them. “They rehearse all year round in rooms, holed up in a hole, but here you can play music for days in large spaces, five metres high, in many cubic metres of air, which helps the acoustic sensitivity a lot,” pianist Balázs Fülei says on the arútluK podcast.
According to the founding artistic director of the Echo Summer Academy held at Károlyi Castle in Fehervarsorgów, the musicians spend their preparation time imagining what it would be like in a concert hall, where they are given, for example, 40 to 50 minutes to practice the music spot. “It’s insanely refreshing for the soul to be able to play music in an acoustic environment.”
Reflective evening
This acoustics can also be enjoyed by visitors, who can expect both announced concerts and spontaneous musical performances at the Károlyi Castle in Fehervarcsorjo. On July 19, at 10:00 p.m., for example, a special performance will take place, which is in fact an experience: the dulcimer András Szálay and Balázs Fóly will play a selection of Ferenc Liszt's late works for dulcimer and piano in an evening concert.
Liszt was interested in the dulcimer, helped develop it, and many of his works have dulcimer-like sounds. Most of them are from Liszt's late creative period, which I would say in general is that there is almost no sound in it, almost more silence. He is experimenting with monophonic things, all very meditative, very free of rules. This concert will be like a mass or a meditation. We plan to have a very small light source on the stage and play the pieces without interruption. There will also be long silences in between.
– says Balazs Volley. So it's worth taking a car and going to the castle, 75 kilometers from Budapest, for a special summer concert. On July 17, Corinda Zinnicar will perform, and will also give a taste of her new album, and after the concert there will be dance lessons – the more participants, the more exciting the dance floor will become in the end.
Balazs Volley is the head of the chamber music department at the Academy of Music, so we also asked him about his current position at the institution. “In my opinion, it is not the leadership of the Academy of Music, or even the faculty, that makes it world-famous and well-rated, but the students,” he said.
He had difficulty dealing with the criticism that the Academy of Music faced last year,
At the same time, he believes that the world, and the discourse environment shaped by Facebook posts, has changed so much around us that the Academy of Music may also have to share information about his work that it has not yet disclosed. “But that doesn’t mean that what people don’t know doesn’t exist,” he added, referring to the hard work being done at the Academy of Music.
If you missed the previous arútluK podcast or would like to listen to the conversation again, click here. you can do that.
(Cover photo: Balázs Fülei. Photo: Peter Papagchik / Index)
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