Zoltan Kocsis has died

[Kontrapunctus]

Very sad news: Zoltan Kocsis has died. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/hungarian-pianist-and-conductor-zoltan-kocsis-dies-at-age-64/2016/11/06/de032dee-a457-11e6-ba46-53db57f0e351_story.html

[mc ukrneal]

Very sad indeed. A wonderful pianist, whose performances have always been of interest to me...

[Mirror Image]

Very sad news indeed. An unbelievably gifted pianist and conductor. Truly a great loss for music.

[Ken B]

A shock. How old?

[Mirror Image]

A shock. How old?

He was 64 I believe.

[kishnevi]

 

[PerfectWagnerite]

He was 64 I believe.

That's it? I thought he was like 80 or 90:(

Anyway I have this CD that I really enjoy:

[Crudblud]

Gone too soon, an understatement.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

  Goodness! Sad, sad news. One of the greatest keyboard talents of all time.

[Mandryka]

It's clearly a shock, and a loss. That goes without saying.

The composers I think he excelled in were Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Debussy, especially in Beethoven. I don't know quite how to express this but it's as if he had the skill to take the listener gently but firmly by the hand and lead them through the music. When he was on form, his ability to make the music speak, to make the music sound important and urgent, was astonishing. His intuitive sense of power and playfulness suits Beethoven to a tee. In Mozart he seemed to perfect a conception of the music which owes not a little to Edwin Fischer - I believe he was a more successful Mozartian than Edwin Fischer was in fact.

His death makes me regret the things which he never put on record, where he could have been really special. I'm not the first to wish he had recorded the Debussy Etudes, or more Schoenberg, or more late Beethoven (we only have an op 111 as far as I know) or late Brahms (his op 5 is a great success in difficult music to pull off.) But I may be the first to wish he had focused more on Bach - his early recording of The Art of the Fugue is probably too cool, too inhumane, but it is nevertheless a tantalising glimpse of a tough and demonic Bach style which could have yielded fruit if it had been developed.

I know his work as a conductor less well, though I certainly enjoyed some Beethoven and Mozart and Bach concertos, some of them with his son Kristián at the keyboard, maybe the best with Andrea Lucchesini playing Beethoven's fourth piano concerto. I have a recording of Mozart symphonies which I think contains one of the most impressive and imaginative performances of the 40th symphony I have heard.

Am I right to think his style changed after his heart trouble about 4 years ago? Like with Richter? Something to explore there.

[Marc]

Sad news.
Kocsis died far too young.

His Rachmaninov was great, IMHO.

R.I.P.

[Brian]

Am I right to think his style changed after his heart trouble about 4 years ago? Like with Richter? Something to explore there.

You are quite lucky to have a European perspective here - it seems like his recording activity slowed down considerably 15-20 years ago, for reasons I have long been perplexed about, since someone of his extraordinary genius should have always had a recording contract ready to go. The Hungaroton Bartok series did show a gifted conductor at work. Or maybe he simply grew skeptical of the recording process a la Radu Lupu? Either way, he is gone too soon and was truly one of the greats.

[Hilltroll73(Ukko)]

A great Bartókian, pianist and scholar.

[Herman]

It's clearly a shock, and a loss. That goes without saying.

The composers I think he excelled in were Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Debussy, especially in Beethoven.

I'd say Bartok in the first place, and Rachmaninoff second.

One of my first LP-sets were the Mozart piano sonatas he recorded together with Dezso Ranki

[Mandryka]

I'd say Bartok in the first place, and Rachmaninoff second.

One of my first LP-sets were the Mozart piano sonatas he recorded together with Dezso Ranki

In truth I've never heard his Rachmaninov, and as for his Bartok, I'm not in a position to evaluate it very well.

[Mandryka]

For his Beethoven I have:

The G major concerto with Andrea Lucchesini from Budapest in 2013
Op 2/1 from a recital in 1991
The 3rd concerto with Boris Berezowski from 2001
Op 10/3 and op 101 from a 1971 recital
Op 90 from Rocque D'Antheron
Op 111 on a commercial DVD
PS 1, 5, 8 and 17 on a commercial CD
The clarinet trio on a commercial CD with Perenyi and Breker.

For Schubert I have

The variations D802 from a concert in 1973
Four impromptus and the three klavierstucke from a commercial DVD
The 9th symphony from a concert in 2004
D 960 from a commercial DVD
D 566 from Rocque D'Antheron

[Brian]

The G major concerto with Andrea Lucchesini from Budapest in 2013

Is this a live bootleg?

[Mandryka]

Is this a live bootleg?

Yes, a radio recording I think, if you want it just say. It is with the Hungarian National Philharmonic at the Budapest Travaszi festival 2013. The recital also includes the Schubert impromptu D 899/2, the Bartok concerto for orchestra and a Brahms Hungarian Rhapsody. I've only heard the Beethoven concerto in fact, it is very good I think.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I'd say Bartok in the first place....

Agreed, both solo and concerto (haven't heard his conducting, here). His concerto set with Ivan Fischer is the finest in the catalogue.

Sadly much of of his Philips output is OOP. It ALL needs to be revived... 

[Mirror Image]

His concerto set with Ivan Fischer is the finest in the catalogue.

I don't know about that. I'm rather partial to Schiff/Fischer. Not saying that Kocsis isn't good, but, as with anything of this nature, it's all a matter of taste.