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Part 2: A Conversation with the Clarinet Faculty of the Liszt Academy of Music
In Part 1 of "The Clarinet in Hungary" in the June 2021 issue, I reflected upon my conversation with Béla Kovács, who has recently retired from the faculty of the Liszt Academy. In addition to my conversation with Kovács, I interviewed other members of the clarinet faculty: Csaba Pálfi and Balázs Rumy - members of the Hungarian National Opera - and Zsolt Szatmári, principal clarinetist of the Hungarian National Philharmonic and the Liszt Chamber Orchestra. Kovács had his formative years in the wake of World War II. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 occurred in his first season with the Hungarian National Opera. His career blossomed throughout a Cold War that kept Hungary closed to the West. It was an enormous challenge to find good equipment under these circumstances. Pálfi, Rumy and Szatmári experienced a very different environment in their education and training. When communist regimes across Eastern and Central Europe fell in 1989, the artistic landscape changed. This younger generation of Hungarian clarinetists, who had their advanced studies in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, were shaped by this new world.
GEORGE STOFFAN: How did you become interested in music?
BALÁZS RUMY: In primary school, in music class, we learned how to play the recorder, we learned to play folk songs, and we listened to music. When I was home, the radio was on all the time. I grew up about an hour from Budapest. We would come to Budapest and go to the opera regularly. It was really extraordinary for me. I never thought I would be in the same place and play in that orchestra.
CSABA PÁLFI: My mother loved music. She studied accordion when she was young. It was important to her that I studied music. I studied recorder at the local music school when I was 6. I started clarinet at the age of 10. When I was 16, I went to the conservatory. I was there three years, and then I joined the Academy.
ZSOLT SZATMÁRI: My parents were musicians. My father was an oboist. My mother was a piano teacher. My parents wanted me to learn cello. I didn't want to, so I played violin,...