Dezső Ránki

Dezső Ránki
Born (1951-09-08) 8 September 1951
Budapest
Alma materFranz Liszt Academy of Music
Occupationpianist

Dezső Ránki (born 8 September 1951) is a Hungarian virtuoso concert pianist with a broad repertoire and a significant discography of solo, duo and concerto works.

Life and career

Born in Budapest,[1] he began taking piano lessons at the Budapest Academy of Music at the age of eight. When he was thirteen, he enrolled at the Budapest Conservatory and from 1964 to 1969 was a pupil of Klára Máthé.[2] Subsequently he studied from 1969 to 1973 at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, with his mentors Pál Kadosa and Ferenc Rados.[2][1][3] Among his classmates were renowned pianists András Schiff and Zoltán Kocsis. With Kocsis he featured in two Hungarian documentaries, on the Budapest Symphony Orchestra tour of the US 'Tizenhatezer Kilometer... A MRT Szimfonikus Zenekara Amerikaban' (1971), and 'Kocsis Zoltán es Ránki Dezső – Kettős Arckép' (1976) 'Kocsis Zoltán and Ránki Dezső – Double Portrait'.

From the time Ránki won first prize at the Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau,[4] he has had an international career performing in Europe, Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the USA and Japan.[1] His repertoire ranges from the Classical period (Mozart, Beethoven), through the Romantics (Schumann, Brahms) to contemporary works (Kurtag).[2] He gave the premiere of the piano concerto (1984) of Zsolt Durkó.[4]

He has played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Orchestre National de France under such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Lorin Maazel, and Zubin Mehta.[1][3][5] He was awarded twice the Kossuth Prize, the highest cultural award in Hungary.[1]

From 1985, Ránki frequently performs duet recitals with his wife Edit Klukon.[1][3][5] Together they have a son, Fülöp Ránki, who is also a skilled pianist.[6] He has been a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest.[4]

Discography

Ránki has recorded mainly for Hungaroton; his large discography includes:

  • Bartók : Three Burlesques Op. 8c / Allegro Barbaro / The First Term At The Piano / Sonatina / Rumanian Folk Dances / Rumanian Christmas Carols / Suite Op. 14 / Three Hungarian Folk-Tunes (Hungaroton, 1967)
  • Schumann : Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 (Hungaroton, 1970)
  • Chopin : Etudes, Op. 10 / Nocturne In B Major, Op.9/3 / Ballade In F Major, Op. 38 / Ballade In G Minor, Op. 23 (Hungaroton 1971). Awarded the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros[7]
  • Beethoven : Sonata No.8 C-Moll, Op. 13 'Pathétique', Sonata No.24 In F Sharp Major, Op. 78, Sonata No.21 In C Major, Op. 53 'Waldstein' (Hungaroton, 1971)
  • Mozart : Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K448 / Ravel Ma Mère l'Oye / Brahms Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56b with Zoltan Kocsis (Hungaroton, 1973)
  • Mozart : Concerti for Two and Three Pianos, with Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Hungarian State Orchestra, János Ferencsik (Hungaroton, 1973)
  • Schumann : Carnaval / Waldszenen (Hungaroton, 1973)
  • Schubert : Wanderer Fantasie, Klavierstück in E♭, Piano Sonata in G (Hungaroton, 1974)
  • Schubert : Sonata in B-Flat Major, Impromptus (Denon, 1975)
  • Bartók : Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, with Zoltán Kocsis, Ferenc Petz, József Marton (Hungaroton, 1976)
  • Mozart : Complete Keyboard Solo Music (Hungaroton, 1976)
  • Bartók : Mikrokozmosz, For Children (1908–1909) (Hungaroton, 1977)
  • Debussy : Images I-II / Children's Corner / L'Isle Joyeuse (Hungaroton, 1977)
  • Liszt : Dante Sonata (Hungaroton, 1978)
  • Mozart : Sonatas for Piano Duet (complete) with Zoltán Kocsis, (Hungaroton, 1978)
  • Mozart : Piano Concertos: No. 9 & No. 14 (Hungaroton, 1978)
  • Stravinsky : Három Tétel A Petruskából / Piano-Rag-Music / Tango / Szerenád A-ban / Szonáta (Hungaroton, 1979)
  • Schumann : Kinderszenen Op.15 / Fantasy Op.17 / Arabeske Op.18 (Hungaroton, 1979)
  • Beethoven : Sonatas and Variations for Cello and Piano (Complete) with Miklós Perényi (Hungaroton, 1979)
  • Mozart : Piano Quartets KV 478 & 493, with the Éder Quartet (Telefunken, 1979)
  • Brahms : Piano Quintet in F Minor. Op. 34, with the Bartók Quartet (Hungaroton, 1980)
  • Weiner, Strawinsky, Bartók, Schumann, Verdi, Debussy (works for clarinet) with Kálmán Berkes
  • Chopin : Preludes (Hungaroton, 1982)
  • Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Wolf (Hungaroton, 1982)
  • Brahms : Horn Trio / Beethoven Horn Sonata / R. Strauss Andante with Ferenc Tarjáni, Gábor Takács-Nagy (Hungaroton, 1983)
  • Ravel : Sonatine, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Gaspard de la nuit, Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, Prelude (Hungaroton, 1984)
  • Brahms : Intermezzi op.116–119, Ballades op.10, (Harmonia Mundi France, 1994)
  • Bartók : Piano Concerto No. 3, Three Burlesques, Allegro Barbaro, Suite Op. 14 (Hungaroton, 1994)
  • Satie : Socrate, Liszt Via Crucis with Edit Klukon, (Budapest Music Center Records 2005)

Awards

  • 1972 Grand Prix du Disque for Chopin recital (1971)
  • 1973 Liszt Prize
  • 1978 Kossuth Prize
  • 1982 Art Prize of City of Budapest
  • 1984 Merited Artist
  • 1988 Bartók-Pásztory Award
  • 1990 Excellent Artist
  • 2005 Prima Primissima Award
  • 2006 Bartók Memorial Award (Herend)
  • 2007 For Hungarian Art
  • 2008 Kossuth Prize

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Ránki Dezső". info.bmc.hu. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  2. ^ a b c Biographical note in booklet accompanying Teldec CDs 9031-76139-2, 1992.
  3. ^ a b c "Ránki Dezső" (in Hungarian). Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar (Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra). Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  4. ^ a b c Alain Pâris. Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle. Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, 1995 (p. 793).
  5. ^ a b "Dezső Ránki and Edit Klukon in London – The Christmas Concert hosted by the Hungarian Embassy and the Hungarian Cultural Centre". Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in London. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  6. ^ "Fulop Ranki". Archived from the original on 2 May 2016.
  7. ^ Biographical note in programme booklet for BBC Prom 3 September 1990, p.10.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.