Zoltán Kocsis
Eminent Hungarian pianist and composer Zoltán Kocsis began his studies on piano at the age of five and entered the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in Budapest at age nine. At 15 Kocsis transferred to the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, studied composition with Pál Kadosa and György Kurtág, and received his diploma at 19. His appointment to the teaching staff of the Liszt Academy was practically instantaneous. By this time Kocsis was already a seasoned veteran of the concert circuit, making his American debut in 1971 and appearing in London in 1972. Kocsis is known for his participation in summer music festivals around the world, such as in Salzburg, Edinburgh, and at the Prague Spring Festival. Interestingly, Kocsis had yet to perform in Africa or South America in 2004.
Kocsis' career as a recording artist began in a scattershot fashion with various releases on the Hungaroton, Harmonia Mundi, and Japanese Denon labels. In 1980 he signed an exclusive contract with Philips Classics, reportedly still in force 25 years later, although the company itself has since been subsumed into Decca Music Group. For Philips, Kocsis has recorded the complete piano music of Bartók, including the concerti and selected works of Debussy, Beethoven, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Although Kocsis' Bach playing has been singled out for especial praise by critics, the music of Bartók is central to Kocsis' activities as a whole. Kocsis co-compiled with musicologist Laszlo Somfai the Hungaroton multi-LP set Bartók at the Piano, issued as part of the centenary observances for Bartók in Hungary -- this contains all of Bartók's commercially recorded output. Kocsis has also orchestrated several of Bartók's works the composer had intended to transcribe into orchestral form, but never got around to the task. Over the years, Kocsis has maintained a close relationship with composer György Kurtág and has premiered many of his works in Hungary. Kocsis is also a perceptive critic and journalist whose articles on music have regularly appeared in the Hungarian magazine Holmi for more than 20 years.
Kocsis' original efforts at musical composition are less known in America than in Europe, where his works are played by Ensemble Modern and his own group, the New Music Studio of Budapest. In Hungary Kocsis is also renowned as a conductor, and in 1997 was named the musical director and chief conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Kocsis has ushered the ensemble into a post-Cold War sensibility, discarding outdated state-proscribed formulas of programming and giving the Hungarian premieres of previously suppressed works by everyone from Charles Ives to Tchaikovsky. Kocsis is also regularly seen on Hungarian television, giving concerts and talking about music. Outside of Central Europe it is difficult to access Kocsis' work as a composer and conductor, but that does not make it less significant -- in his native land, Kocsis is held in a similar regard to that once accorded to the late Leonard Bernstein in America.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Kocsis Plays Bartok
Klassiek - Released by Denon on 15 feb. 1987
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Années de pèlerinage: Troisième année
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1987
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra / Dance Suite / Hungarian Peasant Songs
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltán Kocsis
Klassiek - Released by Hungaroton on 15 jul. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rhapsody For Piano & Orchestra
Zoltán Kocsis, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 dec. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Zoltán Kocsis, San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 13 nov. 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 1; Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta
Zoltán Kocsis, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok New Series 10 - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta - Divertimento - Hungarian Sketches
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltán Kocsis
Klassiek - Released by Hungaroton on 15 jul. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Marche Ecossaise / Images (Arr. for Orchestra) / Ravel: Le Tombeau De Couperin
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Júlia Hajnóczy, Zoltán Kocsis
Klassiek - Released by Hungaroton on 15 jul. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: The Piano Concertos
Zoltán Kocsis, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 8 mrt. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4
Zoltán Kocsis, San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: 19 Waltzes
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3; Scherzo For Piano & Orchestra
Zoltán Kocsis, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cage: Works for Percussion, Vol. 1 (1935-1941)
Amadinda Percussion Group, Zoltan Racz, Zoltán Kocsis, Gábor Pusztai
Kamermuziek - Released by Hungaroton on 6 okt. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Keyboard Concertos
Concertmuziek - Released by Hungaroton on 15 jul. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Suite bergamasque; Pour le piano; Estampes etc
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 dec. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Transcriptions
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1982
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Piano Music
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Images Books 1 & 2; Arabesques; Rêverie etc
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 15 jan. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Rachmaninoff
Orozco Rafael, Zoltán Kocsis, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Edo de Waart
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No.2, Preludes, Etudes
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Piano Concertos//Debussy: Fantaisie for Piano & Orchestra
Zoltán Kocsis, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 2 jul. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo