Those attending this evening at the Palace of Arts will bear witness with their eyes and ears to an extraordinary encounter. Neither of the two performers really needs an introduction: going back to his early childhood, Miklós Perényi has been a permanent fixture on the Hungarian concert scene for some 60 years, but so, too, has Gergely Bogányi for around 18 years. Separately, we know them well as regular guests of the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall; together, however, they have only ever performed together in Hungary on a few occasions outside the capital. This will be the first time they have taken the stage together before a Budapest audience – making this a genuine red-letter day in the concert calendar.
For this concert, they have chosen works for which they have a real affinity, and in this regard, we can be sure of what we will receive: chamber music and solo playing of the highest calibre. The evening also offers some exciting prospects, however. How, for example, will these two radically different personalities find their way in the works of Schumann and Chopin? What will emerge from this meeting of a 65-year-old genius with greying temples and this young but similarly experienced musician? How will the voices of Schumann and Chopin come across on stage? What will this musical collaboration produce, knowing that both musicians’ approach to their art is already mature? “It doesn’t matter that we’re different, we both listen to the composer,” says Bogányi. “When we play, it’s never about who is right, or who wants to interpret this or that melody and how; it’s about what the composer would have liked to hear.”
Cast and Creative Team for Miklós Perényi and Gergely Bogányi at Bartók Béla National Concert Hall
Featuring: Miklós Perényi – cello, Gergely Bogányi – piano
