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PARLANDO
JOURNAL OF MUSIC PEDAGOGY
VOLUME 50.
NUMBER 5. 2008.

DANCE OF THE ELVES

Gems of cello literature

Ildikó Szabó – cello, Ágota Lénárt – piano. Hungaroton Classic – HCD 32592

The fifteen-year-old Ildikó Szabó was born into a musician family; her father, Péter Szabó is the solo cellist of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, her mother is a pianist-piano teacher and her grandfather, the late Csaba Szabó was a composer, professor of music pedagogy and collector of csángó folk songs. This needs to be stated as the fifteen-year-old Ildikó will most certainly continue the family tradition, as professional cellist.
Since 2005, Ildikó has been a scholar in the class of exceptional talents under Professor László Mező, she has won eight international competitions and participated in an equal number of master class courses.
Her outstanding skills had attracted the attention of Hungaroton as well, and they participate in her recording of famous and popular gems of the rich cello repertoire such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Bumble-bee, Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo cappriccioso, Saint Saëns’s Swan, Popper’s Dance of the elves, the First rhapsody by Bartók and the Lyrical Romance by Kodály.
Ildikó knows virtually everything; her excellence shows in lyrics and in virtuosity, as well as in chamber music and in the knowledge of various style schools. Her career can already be foreseen both on a national and an international level. What is missing cannot be demanded, since only after long years of experience do the greatests reach it in a master/ professor status.
We heartily recommend Ildikó Szabó’s Dance of the Elves CD to ‘cello teachers and senior students of the instrument. Not only is the album a delightful experience, but it will undoubtedly have a major motivating impact on the younger colleagues.

Z.T.

Translated by Susan Kapás

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