Focus Paris

The project grew out of the musical acquaintance of the Hungarian double bass player Mátyás Szandai and the French violinist Mathias Lévy. After playing together in the Mathias Lévy Quartet, they decided to set up a project dedicated to Béla Bartók and invite to this the renowned Hungarian cimbalom player Miklós Lukács, a long-time companion of Mátyás Szandai. With the support of the Budapest Music Center, they made their first creative residency in January 2016. The debut concert of the trio took place on 27 May at the Hungarian Institute in Paris, followed by the recording sessions of the album at BMC and a full house concert at the Opus in January last year and further concerts in France during 2017.

Music is a universal language. It transcends linguistic and (most) cultural borders. Yet it is not nationless or without idiosyncrasies determined by place and local culture. There are, therefore, instruments which are more closely associated with a particular place than with another. This does not apply just to folk instruments (as the Scottish bagpipes, the Spanish guitar, or the Russian balalaika, to name but few) but also to instruments which are fully part of the “international” musical panorama and of the Classical Symphony Orchestra. Thus, the violin is by no means a “local” instrument; yet, there is a closeness between Hungarian/gipsy music and the violin which is lacking elsewhere. Similarly, the flute is as universal an instrument as there can be (it is probably the most common instrument in all epochs and cultures), but it has a privileged relationship with France.