Magyar Narancs: The French Collection
Do we still say things like the Germans are like this and the Italians are like that, and the French are yet another category. Never ever. The world has, if a bit slowly, learnt that generalizing is not a clever thing to do, and that one ought not to lump together individuals having their unique places in the giant set of the human community unless one entertains ‘ravening thoughts’ (to borrow the phrase of a noted poet). One person is like this, and the other is like that. But what about the Germans, the Italians, or the French?
Alas, this is trouble. Because the critic is about to discuss the character of French music. OK, fine, he may still trick his way out of this. Because of course we can say that a great deal of German music is intellectual, and a great deal of Italian music pieces overflow with emotion, and a great deal of French music is dominated by high-class elegance, ornate sophistication, a reserved sense of humour, and the enjoyment of the sensuous beauty of sounds. It’s all in vain, these Frenchmen (here we go again!) are genuine intellectual aristocrats.
A brilliant representative of his age József Balog (1979) plays the works of Rameau (17-18th centuries), Debussy (19-20th century), and Boulez (20-21st century). It is indeed intriguing to listen to the dialogue of the composers over a huge temporal distance. And that is not pure chance. Debussy was a fervent fan of Rameau, and Boulez of Debussy. It all looks very nice. And what about playing the piano? Well, that is even nicer. Clean, masterly expressive, lean sounds, easily bending melodies, captivating richness of colour, versatile sets of character, and self-evident virtuosity.
Hedonism and cleverness. József Balog’s Ramaeu (Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin) is playful, his Debussy (Images I-II.) dreaming, and his Boulez (Incises) blessed with an urge to explore.
And we hear from each key he hits that all the three of them are the fine-grained leaves of the same giant tree. The suggestive artist with a large repertoire, and a broad set of interests has now presented us with a disc that educates while delighting, and delights while it educates. (József Balog: The French Collection. Hungaroton)
Kristóf Csengery
Source: Magyar Narancs