20th Century Hungarian Music by Ligeti, Dohnányi, E., Bartók, De (2018/2018), Regente Zsolt Hamar, Müpa Budapest, Budapeste, Hungria

The world premiere of Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 1 took place in Frankfurt on 1 July 1927 under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler and featuring the composer himself. The concerto was first performed in Budapest on 18 March 1928. Once again, Bartók performed the solo, with Ernő Dohnányi conducting the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. In this concerto, the orchestra and the piano operate as one: almost without pause they play in unison, sharing motifs and passing the initiative back and forth. The work can only be performed by musicians blessed with both the technical ability and wild temperament to conquer the solo, which even Bartók admitted is fiendishly difficult. Fülöp Ránki, who was born in 1995 and has been playing Bartók’s Piano Concerto No.1 since he was 18, is a musician who possesses these qualities. After performing alongside Ránki, Zoltán Kocsis commented that “Fülöp plays the hardest, most challenging and technically most demanding pieces… Of all the soloists I’ve accompanied to date, Fülöp is probably the easiest to play with.”