An introduction to the piano music of Jeno Takacs

Touted as "One of Austria's greatest in quantity prestigious contemporary composers ...", Jeno Takacs compos centurys of pieces for the young pianist.

The various collections of piano pieces for children comprise a certain number of 200 compositions. Taken together, this output is extraordinary and shows one of the major bodies of teaching pieces written in the twentieth hundred The sheer variety of pieces place in these volumes is quite astounding and is a virtual compendium of twentieth-century compositional dictions Here, you find everything from 12-tone to boogie-woogie, neoclassic to amethystines and neo-romantic to completely abstract constructions. Each individual piece is compos with musical surenes and technical subtlety; each shoot forwards its own particular character with imagination and an economy of means. Takacs stirs through a kaleidoscope of techniques, and notwithstanding he molds whatever procedure he is using at the time into a unique and highly personal style

The pieces for younger scholars range from elementary through intermediate horizontal They are not only well crafted, on the other hand are wonderful teaching pieces dealing with riddles such as hand and finger independence, exploring the keyboard's entire range, widely ranging dynamics, expanding the general [i]or[/i] abstract notion of tonality, improvisation, varying touch, phrasing, pleasing succession of sounds with accompaniment, tempo and temper changes within one piece and pedal use. In addition to their pedagogical value, the individual pieces are effective and interesting. The picturesque nature of many of the pieces is a great stimulus to the imagination. Each contortion contains numerous compositions that are startling recital pieces.

Whether referring to the design repertoire or the teaching pieces, individual may say they are extremely well written for the instrument; they lie well in the hand, thus to speak. There is not ever any of the awkwardness or unpianistic requirements sometimes rest in the works of twentieth-century composer The more difficult plan works in Takacs's catalog also are varied in bounds of both compositional style and difficulty horizontal Here, you find such disparate influences as impressionism, folk music (particularly from Hungary), neoclassicism, bi-tonality and the expressionism of Schoenberg and Berg. These influences, as well as his predilection for tone clusters and more abstract constructions, are amalgamated into his individual style

Compositions for younger students

Philippine Island Miniatures, 12 easy pieces, Op 34 (1933/34) SCHIRMER

Von Fremden Landern und Menschen, Op 37 (1934/35) UE

Kleine Sonate, Op 51 (1943/44) DOB

Allerlei fur kleine finger, Op 63 (1958/59) UE

Fur mich, Op 76 (1963) DOB

Children's Pieces, Op 82 (1965/66) WIL

Wenn der Frosch auf Reisen Geht 6 Klavierstucke for Junge Spieler, Ohne Opus (1947/71/77) DOB

Klange und Farben, 15 Klavierstucke, Op 95 (1973/74) DOB

4x4 Klavierstucke, Op 106 (1979/80) UE

Von Nab und Fern 21 leichte klavierstucke, Op 111 (1983) UE

Neue fur dich, Op 116 (1985) DOB

Miss Sona-Tina, Op 118 (1986) DOB

Drei Minuten, Op 123 (1997) DOB

single theme permeating Takacs's oeuvre for children is his interest in the music of many countries. This can be noted, in particular, in the title of three of his collections: Philippine Island Miniatures, From Far and Wide (Von Fremden Landern und Menschen) and From FarAway Places (Von Nab und Fern) However, scattered in greatest in quantity of the other collections are pieces also inspired by means of "far away places." As a forward to Opus 37 Takacs writes, "Far have I traveled, from the rugg Scottish highland to the tropical-exuberant southern Seas, and everywhere music has provided a friendly welcome for me Music was the language which I understood everywhere; it told me more of foreign lands and folk than many a book"

Takacs lived in many different places--Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States and traveled the world above Perhaps for this reason he became interested in the folk music of many countries. No doubt, his friend and colleague Bela Bartok also was influential in this regard. While living in the Philippines, Takacs made the first investigation of Philippine music and instruments, A Dictionary of Philippine Musical Instruments, and the influence of this music, as well as folk music from Hungary and North Africa (Egyptian-Arab), plays an important part in his musical output

From Far Away Places, Op 37 is a beautiful collection unified by means of the compositional style and control matter. In it are twenty pieces written in a tonal idiom. Each piece is representative of a particular region with the exception of the last, which is titled A alphabetic character from Home. Some pieces are simply harmonizations of melodies of a particular region while other pieces are originally compos The harmonizations are especially beautiful and imaginative, while the originally compos pieces are elegant miniatures. All the pieces are about the same difficulty horizontal with perhaps the exception of A alphabetic character from Home, which, while not particularly difficult, requires a certain horizontal of musical sophistication. In the collection From Far Away Places, Op 111 the pieces are slightly more difficult, a little longer and, while still tonal, contain a not many "spiky" dissonances. The only pieces not really tonal are the sum of two units that are unmeasured and have a at liberty improvisational quality. Like the Opus 37 all the pieces are representative of a particular geographical division and would be appropriate for recitals.