Description

LAJOS HERNÁDI (BORN HEIMLICH) (BUDAPEST, MARCH 13, 1906 – BUDAPEST, JUNE 29, 1986)

He was born in Budapest as the son of Móric Heimlich (1857–1926) a tailor and Gizella Toch. He learned to play the piano from childhood, then began his higher studies in 1924 at the Budapest Academy of Music , where he studied piano in the class of Béla Bartók . In 1927, he traveled to Berlin , where he was a student of Artur Schnabel for one academic year . From 1928, he continued his piano studies again in Budapest, this time with Ernő Dohnányi . He obtained his piano degree in 1929, and at his graduation concert he played contemporary works of that time, Stravinsky’s Petruska Suite and Bartók’s Piano Sonata.

His career as a pianist began in 1929, and he gave successful concerts both at home and in Western Europe. At the 1933 Budapest International Ferenc Liszt Piano Competition, he won the Hungarian Radio prize. From the end of the 1930s, due to the ever-increasing anti-Semitism , his opportunities to perform decreased, and in the end he could only give concerts in his apartment. Later, he was also called up for labor service , and he was released in the forest next to a Munkács . You said this in an interview: “We came back to life, I was a person again, an artist. Already on the first day, I sat next to the piano: I played Chopin for the wounded Soviet soldiers. I have already performed at a real concert in Debrecen .” The aforementioned concert in Debrecen took place in November 1944. Later, he performed in many countries of the world, performed on all continents except Australia , gave countless concerts, and took part in radio and TV performances. He performed more than a hundred solo works and almost thirty concertos on his regular program. In his orchestral concerts, he performed with the world’s most famous conductors, such as Hermann Abendroth , Dean Dixon , Ernő Dohnányi, János Ferencsik , Otto Klemperer , György Solti and Carlo Zecchi . As a recognized and successful pianist, he was invited to the jury of many domestic and foreign international piano competitions (Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow, Paris, Munich, Leipzig, Leeds).

In 1945, he became a teacher at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, and until his retirement in 1975, he was a professor of piano. In addition to the continuous concerts, he also placed great emphasis on education, and a number of students who later became famous came out of his hands, such as Péter Frankl , Tamás Vásáry , and György Cziffra.

His work in musicology was also important. On the one hand, he contributed to the publication of sheet music in Hungary, and at the same time to the renewal of music education. ( he edited the works of Bach , Beethoven, Haydn , Mozart , Czerny and many other composers for the press), on the other hand, his literary activity was also significant. His highly important study Anticipation – Additions to the Psychology of Practice , which was his lecture at the Academy of Music and was published in the Music Review in 1947. Together with István Szelényi, he edited the collection piano album A mesterek tekhnikaja – A technika mesterei, published in 1948 . His public performances with detailed performance instructions are also significant (Bach’s 18 small preludes, two- and three-part inventions, Haydn’s piano sonatas). His scores containing his personal fingerings, phrasings, and comments are preserved in the library of the Academy of Music.

Towards the end of his life, he didn’t give many concerts anymore, he died in 1986. On March 13, 2006, the centenary of his birth, two of his former students, Péter Frankl and Tamás Vásáry, gave a memorial “student concert” in honor of their master.

TRACKLIST

1. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes (Bartók)
2. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 1. 4 Old Tunes Rubato (Bartók)
3. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 2. 4 Old Tunes Andante (Bartók)
4. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 3. 4 Old Tunes Poco rubato (Bartók)
5. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 4. 4 Old Tunes Andante (Bartók)
6. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 5. Scherzo Allegro (Bartók)
7. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 6. Ballade Andante (Bartók)
8. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 7. Old Dance Tunes Allegro (Bartók)
9. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 8. Old Dance Tunes Allegretto (Bartók)
10. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 9. Old Dance Tunes Allegretto (Bartók)
11. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 10. Old Dance Tunes L’istesso tempo (Bartók)
12. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 11. Old Dance Tunes Assai moderato (Bartók)
13. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 12. Old Dance Tunes Allegretto (Bartók)
14. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 14. Old Dance Tunes Allegro (Bartók)
15. 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sz. 71, BB 79, Old Dance Tunes No. 15. Old Dance Tunes Allegro (Bartók)
16. 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244R106 (Liszt)
17. Allegro barbaro, BB 63 (Bartók)
18. Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 I. Allegro affettuoso (Schumann)
19. Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 II. Intermezzo Andante grazioso (Schumann)
20. Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 III. Allegro vivace (Schumann)
21. Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 24, J. 138 IV. Rondo, Perpetuum Mobile (Carl Maria von Weber)
22. Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique I. Grave – Allegro di molto e con brio (Beethoven)
23. Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique II. Adagio cantabile (Beethoven)
24. Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 Pathétique III. Rondo Allegro (Beethoven)
25. Piano Sonata, BB 88 I. Allegro moderato (Bartók)
26. Piano Sonata, BB 88 II. Sostenuto e pesante (Bartók)
27. Piano Sonata, BB 88 III. Allegro molto (Bartók)
28. Supplément aux Années de pèlerinage, Year 2, S. 162 Venezia e Napoli No. 1, Gondoliera (Canzone del Cavaliere Peruchini) No. 1. Gondoliera (Liszt)
29. Supplément aux Années de pèlerinage, Year 2, S. 162 Venezia e Napoli No. 1, Gondoliera (Canzone del Cavaliere Peruchini) No. 2. Canzone (Liszt)
30. Supplément aux Années de pèlerinage, Year 2, S. 162 Venezia e Napoli No. 1, Gondoliera (Canzone del Cavaliere Peruchini) No. 3. Tarantella (Liszt)