Reviews, articles Csaba Király Award-winning Concert Pianist and Organist Csaba Király's Organ Recital in Bratislava, in the Concert Hall of  Slovakian Radio  An exceptional experience was in store for all those  who attended Csaba Kiraly's organ recital, given  in Bratislava  in the concert hall of  Slovakian Radio, or who heard it broadcast live on Devin Radio from 10.30 am on 6th  February 2011. The programme consisted of only works by Liszt, compiled on the occasion of the bi-centenary of  Franz Liszt's  birth. The last two Liszt pieces of the programme, "St. Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds" and the  Totentanz were transcribed for the organ by Csaba Kiraly. The artist  showed his individual personality by the way  he held the audience's intensive concentration from the beginning to the end of the recital. All the works in his  interpretation were performed with conviction; he identified himself with the content of the work with an individual  empathy and with a dazzling technique. The crown of the recital was the transcription of Totentanz , in which the  piano and orchestral parts were combined, providing the audience  with a truly special and unusual experience. To  all of this the audience  responded with well deserved long and enthusiastic applause.  Compiled by Imrich Szabó, organ professor of the Music Academy, Bratislava  13th February 2011 ______________________________________________________________________________________________  Organ recital at the Palace of Arts, 14th October, 2010  TThose concert- goers, who went to listen to the recital of one of the most extraordinary organists of today, were in  for a big surprise. The surprise wasn't casued by the musical experience, as in the case of Csaba Király we could  count on that: with his performance of either solo organ, piano, or chamber music or piano concerto accompanied  by  orchestra, he always attracts an audience, and the last moments of  rapt attention are usually followed by  admiring applause. But this time we felt that we had heard an achievement which we had never listened to before   in other respects as well. In a "normal-sized" concert, a single musician by having an unrivalled presence of mind,  "inhuman" powers of endurance and accuracy, produced by himself so many musical notes, that an orchestra could  have been glorified for all of them. From this view point Csaba Király would be entitled to enter the Guinness book  of records. We could have imagined we were at the final round of the Olympic games, unless beyond the simple  quantitative information we didn't receive something else, and much more. We had a true experience in which the  technical achievement appeared only as a background, and which thoroughly astonished the audience. The  programme of the recital consisted of popular orchestral and choral works, played with all their voices, tone colours,  and manifold variety, on the queen of  instruments: Beethoven's Ouverture "Egmont" and movements from his  symphonies, Stravinsky's "Petrushka" and the more than half hour long "Dies irae" from Verdi's Requiem. And when  the seduction of the music made us forget our surprise caused by the overwhelming mass of sound and technical  achievement, then we felt as though the original orchestra was playing and the choir singing, sometimes as though   we were  hearing  compositions possibly written only for the organ. I have never heard  expressive, plastic organ  playing, like that in Verdi's  "Lacrimosa" from the Requiem, in which the pipes of the instrument were just singing.  Afterwards it flashed across my mind that due to the performer's magic, the words also sounded in my imagination,  and since that time the words of the medieval writer have been recalled. Csaba Király proved again, that he belongs  among the greatest artists of today, and his recent "undertaking" as a composer has put his name among the great  masters of transcription. The program of the recital:  Beethoven: Egmont Overture, op. 84 Verdi: Requiem - Dies Irae  Stravinsky: Petrushka Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op. 125 - 2nd movement  Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92 - 2nd movement  Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor ("Fate"), op. 67 - 1st movement  Compiled by Laszlo Gombos musicologist  4th November 2010  ______________________________________________________________________________________________  "Joy and an unforgettable experience" at Csaba Kiraly's piano improvisation recital On 25th August 2010, within the framework of the Kodolányi Concerts at the Siófok International Master Course for  Keyboard Instruments, the audience attended an improvisation concert given by the award-winning pianist and  organist Csaba Kiraly. Not only the participants on the master course, but also the music-loving public enjoyed the  ingenious musical improvisations of one of the most versatile and creative artists of Hungary.  Csaba Kiraly's enviable technical skill, his sense of form, his coloured increase of dynamics, his feeling toward the  logical and perfect construction of the harmonic structure all amaze the listener. Sometimes it seemed, if  Rachmaninov, Liszt, Chopin or Bartók himself were seated at the piano by their technical executions, accurate  melody leading and he was introducing a new work to the audience without deviating from the usual perfection of  style, conception, and conscious voice leading. "To know", "to practice" such kind of sovereignty isn't an ordinary,  neither even a natural thing, as one knows the acquired things, but practices professionally the accustomed things.  But this recital showed  the spontaneously applausing audience, that "Hic et nunc" they had encountered an  exceptional talent, musically well educated, a truly sovereign personality. Improvisation is the art of the élite, the art  of the formers of  ideas in the grand style, the art of those who possess  the "message". Since  the era of figured  bass and continuo, this has been known by several masters of the baroque, but to teach, to play at a master level -  much less. The candenza which supplements the musical form, and variations, could not exist without   improvisation, even  jazz would be 'dead" without it. Csaba Király's art stands as an ideal for the ambitious young  generation: it inspires, moves, incites, holds out hopes of possibilities, suggests invention. In the name of his  contemporaries I dare to say: to play with him  is a joy and an unforgettable experience.  Author: Tibor Rácz, accordion professor, Conservatoire, Bratislava 25th August 2010 ______________________________________________________________________________________________  Organ recital in the Basilica in Pecs, on 22nd July 2010  A warm summer evening, full house in the Basilica, and Csaba Kiraly at the organ, Liszt scores on the music stand.   Everything is OK for  a really enjoyable concert, which was  organized as a benefit concert as part of the Pécs  Diocesan Caritas Week. The takings from  the concert were donated to the flood victims.  The concert began unusually with the Legend of Saint Elizabeth, of which  the meditative introduction to part one  provided us with an unexpected, exciting beginning, then it  gradually opened out to a chorale-like „spot” in E  major, from where the piece returned again to the „Liszt-shades”. After this,  Excelsior with its harmonies and  rhythms were taking effect on the audience, which was affected by the inspired performance.  „Zur Trauung” and  the Consolation in D flat major took us into the world of the lyric style of Liszt works, which was followed by the  Papst Hymnus with its majestical, solemn melodies and harmonies. Next two monumental Liszt pieces were at the  end of the concert: first Evocation, which is an adaptation of Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus.  However this dual contrast was executed in a really exciting and varied way both by subjective intensity of the  performance and by the picturesque registration. One of Liszt’s best known works, the Prelude and Fugue on the  name B-A-C-H, was performed as the final piece of the concert, in which Csaba Kiraly's splendid virtuosity showed  itself, as well as that he also had left plenty of energy to express the music beautifully.  To summarize, we heard an exceptionally colourful programme, exciting, often with brilliant registration and perfect  formation, which all prove his deep knowledge of the Liszt-ouvre.  Compiled by Sándor Balatoni, organist of the Sacred Heart (Pius) Church in Pécs  24th July 2010 ______________________________________________________________________________________________  Memorable performance of Liszt's B minor Sonata and improvisation in Liszt’s style Several society members attended the club-day concert of the Budapest Group of the Liszt Society, held on 28th  April 2010 in the Franz Liszt Chamber Hall of the Old Music Academy, Budapest. The concert pianist and organist  Csaba Király gave an exclusive piano recital of works by Chopin and Liszt. Csaba Király is the secretary-general of  the Liszt Society - though due to the increased number of his artistic obligations, he will resign his position before  the members of the entire society at the general assembly in Szeged on 11th May – and he provided the attending  friends of Liszt with a splendid experience.  This year the bicentenary of Chopin is being celebrated worldwide, and among his works he played the Fantasy in F  minor (op. 49) and the Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise (op. 22): the grateful audience acknowledged these  relatively rarely heard pieces with pleasure. "The pièce de résistance" of the concert was Liszt's Sonata in B minor in  his performance, which was both an exceptionally mature and especial intonated and inspired interpretation. This  work is known as the one of the piano pieces of the 19th century of inspired genius, an "unavoidable ordeal" for  every pianist, though many pianists go to the wall when playing it. Csaba Király obviously has been keeping the  Sonata for long time in his repertory, the performance gave the impression that the artist - by perfectly possessing  the required technique - was even now still shaping the essence of the musical "message" with a recollection of its  true realization, intense admiration. There was an especially "poignant" part before the last Andante sostenuto, the  giant tension of the long silence, followed by the tremendous increase of the Stretta and the "grandioso summit",  and next, the very end of the piece. During the ovation of the audience, when  Csaba  Király was sitting at the piano without saying a word, many  people thought that a recently discovered grandioso Liszt work was being performed - however the artist gave us  evidence of his improvisational skill in the style of Liszt, of the period of his years at Weimar, when the B minor  Sonata was created. At some moments a few harmonic patterns were also related to the world of late romantic  music, but fundamentally the thematic material, the musical setting, the formation of the directly created grandioso  work was almost the same as one of Liszt's compositions. Unfortunately there are only a very few performing artists  in classical music who are able to improvise at a high level. However Csaba Király has improvised since his  childhood, and his skill has improved to a masterly level. We are looking forward to the International Symposium  combined with competitions, master classes and concerts, entitled "IMPROVISATIO - CREATIO", which he has  organized on his own initiative, to be held in Pécs, a European Capital of Culture, between 5 and 12 September,  where Csaba Király will also take part as one of the professors.  Created by Mária Eckhardt   /chief adviser and academic director of the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre/  5th May 2010