Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface to the English-Language Edition
- Preface to the Hungarian Edition (1986): The Three Questions
- 1 Gilbert Amy
- 2 Milton Babbitt
- 3 Sándor Balassa
- 4 Luciano Berio
- 5 Sir Harrison Birtwistle
- 6 Pierre Boulez
- 7 Attila Bozay
- 8 Earle Brown
- 9 Sylvano Bussotti
- 10 John Cage
- 11 Elliott Carter
- 12 Friedrich Cerha
- 13 George Crumb
- 14 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
- 15 Edison Denisov
- 16 Henri Dutilleux
- 17 Péter Eötvös
- 18 Morton Feldman
- 19 Lukas Foss
- 20 Alberto Ginastera
- 21 Karel Goeyvaerts
- 22 Sofia Gubaidulina
- 23 Georg Friedrich Haas
- 24 Hans Werner Henze
- 25 Klaus Huber
- 26 Zoltán Jeney
- 27 Mauricio Kagel
- 28 Georg Katzer
- 29 Ernst Krenek
- 30 Ladislav Kupkovic
- 31 György Kurtág
- 32 Helmut Lachenmann
- 33 György Ligeti
- 34 Witold Lutosławski
- 35 François-Bernard Mâche
- 36 Michio Mamiya
- 37 Giacomo Manzoni
- 38 Paul Méfano
- 39 András Mihály
- 40 Tristan Murail
- 41 Marlos Nobre
- 42 Luigi Nono
- 43 Krzysztof Penderecki
- 44 Goffredo Petrassi
- 45 Emil Petrovics
- 46 Henri Pousseur
- 47 Steve Reich
- 48 Wolfgang Rihm
- 49 Peter Ruzicka
- 50 László Sáry
- 51 Pierre Schaeffer
- 52 Dieter Schnebel
- 53 Alfred Schnittke
- 54 Gunther Schuller
- 55 Johannes Maria Staud
- 56 Karlheinz Stockhausen
- 57 András Szőllősy
- 58 Tōru Takemitsu
- 59 Dimitri Terzakis
- 60 Sir Michael Tippett
- 61 László Vidovszky
- 62 Wladimir Vogel
- 63 Gerhard Wimberger
- 64 Christian Wolff
- 65 Iannis Xenakis
- Encore
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
3 - Sándor Balassa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface to the English-Language Edition
- Preface to the Hungarian Edition (1986): The Three Questions
- 1 Gilbert Amy
- 2 Milton Babbitt
- 3 Sándor Balassa
- 4 Luciano Berio
- 5 Sir Harrison Birtwistle
- 6 Pierre Boulez
- 7 Attila Bozay
- 8 Earle Brown
- 9 Sylvano Bussotti
- 10 John Cage
- 11 Elliott Carter
- 12 Friedrich Cerha
- 13 George Crumb
- 14 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
- 15 Edison Denisov
- 16 Henri Dutilleux
- 17 Péter Eötvös
- 18 Morton Feldman
- 19 Lukas Foss
- 20 Alberto Ginastera
- 21 Karel Goeyvaerts
- 22 Sofia Gubaidulina
- 23 Georg Friedrich Haas
- 24 Hans Werner Henze
- 25 Klaus Huber
- 26 Zoltán Jeney
- 27 Mauricio Kagel
- 28 Georg Katzer
- 29 Ernst Krenek
- 30 Ladislav Kupkovic
- 31 György Kurtág
- 32 Helmut Lachenmann
- 33 György Ligeti
- 34 Witold Lutosławski
- 35 François-Bernard Mâche
- 36 Michio Mamiya
- 37 Giacomo Manzoni
- 38 Paul Méfano
- 39 András Mihály
- 40 Tristan Murail
- 41 Marlos Nobre
- 42 Luigi Nono
- 43 Krzysztof Penderecki
- 44 Goffredo Petrassi
- 45 Emil Petrovics
- 46 Henri Pousseur
- 47 Steve Reich
- 48 Wolfgang Rihm
- 49 Peter Ruzicka
- 50 László Sáry
- 51 Pierre Schaeffer
- 52 Dieter Schnebel
- 53 Alfred Schnittke
- 54 Gunther Schuller
- 55 Johannes Maria Staud
- 56 Karlheinz Stockhausen
- 57 András Szőllősy
- 58 Tōru Takemitsu
- 59 Dimitri Terzakis
- 60 Sir Michael Tippett
- 61 László Vidovszky
- 62 Wladimir Vogel
- 63 Gerhard Wimberger
- 64 Christian Wolff
- 65 Iannis Xenakis
- Encore
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
For most of the nineteen years I spent with Editio Musica Budapest (EMB) promoting contemporary Hungarian music in the world (1971–90), Sándor Balassa and I were friends.
I had heard from an acquaintance at Hungarian Radio that Balassa, who was employed by the same institution as music producer, composed in his free time and his pieces were quite good. I remember meeting him one day in front of the radio headquarters, dressed in his drab clothes, with a worn briefcase in his hand. “I hear you compose,” I said to him. “Yes,” he said, modestly, with a shrug of his shoulders.
That is how it started. As soon as I had heard a piece of his, I was bowled over and from then on did my very best to make him known in and outside Hungary. A number of prestigious performances and commissions followed: Pierre Boulez conducted Balassa’s Iris on February 6, 1976, (a date I shall never forget) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. Also featured were Ligeti’s Lontano and Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (with Siegmund Nimsgern and the best Judit I have heard to date: Tatiana Troyanos). Through my good acquaintance with Aaron Copland, I got Balassa a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation. There followed requests from Boston and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. His operas and ensemble pieces also received performances. Over the years, Sándor Balassa became a composer to reckon with; he rose to prominence in Hungary and received some of the highest government decorations. He came frequently to my home and I visited him a number of times in his house at Budakeszi, just outside Budapest.
I warmed to his personality—I found him genuine, sensitive, and modest. I was also attracted by his closeness to nature as well as by his naiveté. Two memories come to mind, both connected with our visit to London (the first one for him), to do with the Hungarian concert of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. I took him for a walk in the city and when we came to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, I noticed he had tears in his eyes. He was simply overwhelmed by the experience of seeing those monuments at close quarters.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers , pp. 7 - 11Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011