Magdaléna Bajuszová - Piano
Photo: Silvia Slafkovská
Magdaléna Bajuszová is associate professor of Music Interpretation and Creation at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and the head of the Department of Keyboard Instruments. Even as a child, she showed extraordinary talent and became a special pupil of piano playing at the Conservatory in Bratislava. Later she continued her studies at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU), receiving her artis doctor degree in music performance.
An important part of Bajuszová’s extensive repertoire consists of lesser-known works of piano literature. She has performed the premieres of a series of works by Slovak and foreign composers.
A regular performer at festivals including Melos-Ethos, New Slovak Music and Bratislava Music Festival among others, she has also completed numerous recordings for Slovak Radio and Czech Radio. Her notable achievements also include recordings of works by Slovak composers of all generations. Throughout the decade of 1997–2007 Bajuszová worked closely with one of the most relevant Slovak composers – Ilja Zeljenka. This fruitful period resulted in numerous premieres and recordings of his piano works. In 2007 Hevhetia Publishers issued her recording of Nine Preludes by Jozef Kolkovič, that have been described by music critics as borderline unplayable. For these various recordings she received the Frico Kafenda Award for outstanding performance achievements.
She also recorded a CD of the complete piano work of Štefan Németh-Šamorínsky, one of the founding fathers of Slovak musical culture, double CD of key piano suites from the 20th century (Bartók, Schoenberg, Hindemith, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Xenakis, Albrecht), CD of Piano Trios of Slovak composers and CD with the works of Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók. Her latest performance ideas include the realization of CD albums as recordings of live concert performances with thematic dramaturgy – a double CD of Complete Piano Works of Alexander Albrecht, a double CD of Slovak Piano Sonatinas and a CD of 24 Preludes of Ilja Zeljenka.
The recordings of works by János Tamás on this album were produced in collaboration with the “János Tamás Digital Initiative” project of the János Tamás Association.
Working on Tamás’s music was demanding and captivating. It was necessary to understand and decipher this difficult world, full of deep, existential questions without answers, at the center of which stands an infinitely solitary human soul – and hope need not be the only way out. The borderline expressivity of Tamás’s music nonetheless brings with it a powerful sense of catharsis and artistic beauty. The works on this album were performed as part of the concert series Unknown Music. I am glad that, thanks to the efforts of Tomas Dratva and his friends, the music of János Tamás will never be unknown again. I dedicate this album to the memory of Tomas Dratva.
Magdaléna Bajuszová
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