For Zoltán Fejérvári, these profound pieces hold a special significance: he recorded them for his 2019 solo debut album on the Piano Classics label, establishing himself discographically as one of the most exciting and expressive pianists of his generation. International critics hailed the recording as a benchmark, praising the Hungarian musician for his exceptional touch and imagination.

Zoltán Fejérvári will bring these pianistic virtues to the rest of his program as well—along with additional qualities such as a keen sense of musical poetry, which is essential to bringing Antonín Dvořák’s eight-piece cycle of Humoresques to life. Incidentally, these pieces, said to have been inspired by the songs of Scottish immigrants during the composer’s “American years,” have little to do with humor in the literal sense. Their titles are more reminiscent of the German Romantic Robert Schumann, the “inventor” of the musical humoresque, whose piano music has also played a significant role in Fejérvári’s career.

Following the acclaim of his debut, his 2020 Schumann album propelled the pianist to the forefront of interpreters in this repertoire. However, Schumann’s Kinderszenen, his 1838 masterpiece, was not included on that album. This makes it all the more intriguing to see how a thoughtful and searching musician like Zoltán Fejérvári—who has learned much from pianistic mentors such as Sir András Schiff and Kirill Gerstein and now teaches as a professor at the Basel Academy of Music—will approach these pieces: seemingly simple yet, in reality, so intricate and refined.

Zoltán Fejérvári ultimately takes on a pianistic challenge of an entirely different kind with Johannes Brahms’ First Piano Sonata, the composer’s official Opus 1, written when he was barely of age. This sonata became his ticket into the world of the “greatest,” as predicted by his very first admirers, Robert and Clara Schumann. Clara herself described the highly virtuosic work as “overflowing with fantasy and profound emotion.” A perfect match, then, for such a versatile musical personality as Zoltán Fejérvári.

Photo: Balázs Borocz