Judit Emese Benkő: On the “roads” of the violin. Albert Márkos, the multi-faceted violinist
For Albert Márkos, a career as a musician was the most natural choice, as he was very quickly immersed in the world of music under the guidance of his father, composer Albert Márkos (1914-1981).
Meeting the violin
It was no coincidence that he chose the violin, as he could regularly hear his composer father practising in his home, and he also enjoyed performing success as a violinist during his student years and as a young man. At that time, he played the violin for his own pleasure and occasionally took on pupils. No wonder that the child Albert Márkos and his brother András, later a cellist, often picked up wooden spoons, pretending that they too were 'playing the violin'. Their father must have been familiar with this enthusiasm, since, as he said in an interview, he himself had once “been eager to get his hands on a violin.”[1]
The enthusiasm for the violin proved to be convincing, and little Albert Márkos was not yet in school when he could already start learning the violin: his father took him to the best violin teacher in Cluj Napoca at the time, Péter Zsurka, for an audition, and under his guidance the real violin lessons began. At the same time, the elder Albert Márkos also introduced his son to the world of theoretical knowledge, and introduced him to the basic concepts of harmony. Later, he also broadened the possible musical perspectives: he suggested trying conducting and singing, and even took him to the famous singing master D'André Albert, who thought it would be worthwhile to start learning to sing. Even as a student, he felt that the violin was the most important thing, and he would not be diverted from his violin 'path'.
The example of his father was a long-lasting influence on him: the two works he often heard him play at home, Beethoven's Romance in F major and Wieniawski's Polonez in A major, became a passion for the young Albert Márkos: he learned both privately while still at school. He later performed the Romance in F major at key moments in his career as a violinist: in 1977, at Deva and Vajdahunyad, at the first concerts at which he appeared as a soloist, and, many years later, in 2008, it was one of the pieces with which he said goodbye to orchestral music. His father also gave him his first master instrument in his early years, a Carlo Tononi copy.
Under the guidance of renowned masters
Péter Zsurka was famous for his unrelenting rigour, and for making excellent, or at least good, violinists out of almost everyone. He taught according to the famous Bloch school, i.e. he guided his students through the technical “line” of Bloch, Kaiser, Mazas, Kreutzer, Rode, Dont, Paganini and to a lesser extent Fiorillo and Gavinies etudes. This was, according to Márkos, “the step-by-step path of study that he strictly demanded to be followed.” Attila Demény's summary is telling: “Zsurka's school does not tolerate rejection, but also mediocrity. It is almost unprecedented that someone who came out of this school is today a renowned concert artist, a concertmaster or soloist in Europe's best orchestras.”[2]
He made two solo debuts in his last year of school: in March 1963 he appeared in concertos by G. Torelli and A. Corelli, and in June he played the violin solo in B. Martinu's Divertimento for violin, viola and orchestra.
Although his mother would have liked him to become a forest engineer, hoping that this would also mean a healthy lifestyle close to nature, there was no doubt that he would continue his studies at the “G. Dima” Music Academy (then the Conservatory) after his music school studies, majoring in violin: he passed the entrance exam and got into the college with a maximum grade (10).
In his first year he was a pupil of István Nagy, who was mainly known as a choirmaster, but when he entered his second year, the violinist István Ruha began teaching at the institution.He was a prize-winner at the Tchaikovsky (1958), Enescu (1958) and Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud (1959) international competitions and a soloist with the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra. Márkos felt that Ruha would be the right teacher for him, so he continued his studies with him and graduated as his student.
At his last orchestral performance, it was surely not by chance that he referred back to the lifelong positive influence of his masters on the music critic who reviewed the concert: “The artistic “gold dust” sprinkled on the strings by the former Péter Zsurka and István Ruha could be felt in the playing of the former Zsurka and Ruha nephew even after all these years.”[3]
The orchestral artist
He started his career as a musician in one of the best orchestras in the country: he had already competed for the Cluj Philharmonic Orchestra in 1966, when he was still a student at the college, so by the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1968, he felt “at home” in the orchestra. It is telling that as a student, when he joined the orchestra, he played first violin at the last desk, from where he quickly moved up, and after years of playing at the third and then second desk, he retired from the concertmaster's chair in 2010.
The Cluj-Napoca State Philharmonic (now the Transylvania State Philharmonic) is one of the best symphony orchestras in the country.Before 1989, the orchestra was led by permanent conductors, and Albert Márkos's orchestral activities were directed by such prestigious masters as Antonin Ciolan, then Emil Simon, Erich Bergel and later Cristian Mandeal. Renowned artists were guest performers in Cluj-Napoca and the orchestra often gave concerts abroad, so the musicians were able to work in a relatively open world in the rather closed environment of the time. They performed mainly in Italy, but also in the then Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, etc. The aspects of the communist world, especially in the 1980s, also had a strong influence on the orchestral repertoire: there was a list of works that had to be performed, mainly by Romanian composers, and there was also another 'list' of music that was not allowed to be performed, especially church music.
Despite all the limitations, there were still some extraordinary concerts that made up for the many “forced” works. One of these was the “fantastic” concert in which the orchestra performed three works by the world great Witold Lutoslawski (Funeral Music, Gordon Concerto, Symphony No. I) on 21 February 1974 to great acclaim under the baton of the composer.
The challenges of being a concertmaster
Albert Márkos officially took up the post of concertmaster in the 1993-94 season, but he had already been acting as concertmaster - as a trial period - in the previous season. He has been “concertmaster” for almost twenty years and feels that he has generally managed to find the best possible ways of working with both his fellow musicians and the Philharmonia management.
The “most spectacular” part of the concertmaster's job is to perform solos that prove his worth as a violinist to the audience. His very first solo as concertmaster was the Thais Meditation in Düsseldorf, but he fondly remembers performing the same work at a concert in Santander with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna as soloists, and after the performance Gheorghiu said in congratulatory remarks that listening to the violin solo he was “proud to be Romanian.”
The long violin solo in the slow movement of Brahms's First Symphony, which is played with the horn, follows the advice of conductor Erich Bergel, who says that the secret of perfect sound here is the “new” timbre that is achieved when neither instrument “tramples” the other.
One of his favourite works was the violin solo of Beethoven's Missa solemnis Sanctus, which was well received by critics in Klagenfurt and Cluj-Napoca. After a concert in Cluj, Cristina Monica Bota wrote that the “most inspiring moment” of the concert was the solo by concertmaster Albert Márkos, which was “imbued with a magical sweet tenderness.”[4]
In addition to the well-known “great” solos of Scheherazade and The Heroic Life, he could play the concerto solo of Saint-Saens' vocal symphony Le Déluge. Webern's Passacaglia, Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. II in E minor, Mahler's Symphony No. VI “Tragic”, Rimsky-Korsakov's Overture to the Great Russian Easter, and Tanyeev's Symphony No. IV are all works that have given him the opportunity to prove his abilities from the concertmaster's chair over the years.
Solstic “intermezzos”
He also made his debut as a soloist, although he did not appear on the concert stage in this role very often. His solo performances are framed by two works: Beethoven's Romance in F major and Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, in the aforementioned 1977 and 2008 farewell concerts.
In memory of his beloved master Péter Zsurka, he played Mozart's Violin Concerto in G major at the Péter Zsurka Memorial Days (1999). István Morvay said that he played the concerto “in a beautiful Mozartian style”, “especially the poetic second movement was impressive”[5] and Ferenc László wrote of his performance that “he did a brilliant job for the reputation of the Zsurka school.”[6]
The premiere of French conductor Laurent Petitgirard's violin concerto Le legendaire in Cluj-Napoca (1994) was a special task.
Together with András Ágoston, he performed Bach's Double Concerto in D minor and Alfred Schnittke's Concerto grosso for two violins and orchestra, not only in Cluj-Napoca (1998), but also at the Spring Festival with the Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra (2000). He later said of this guest appearance in an interview that the three rehearsals that preceded this concert “were a professional lesson in dedication and seriousness.”[7]
He has also appeared as a soloist with other national philharmonic orchestras. A memorable experience for him was the 1993 performance of his father's Double Concerto with the orchestra of the “Dinu Lipatti” Philharmonic Orchestra of Satu Mare, accompanied by cellist Előd Kostyák. Years later, in 2001, he was able to perform this work with his brother András in Cluj-Napoca, conducted by Jan Stulen, who also included Saint-Saens' Muse and Poet, also a violin and cello solo.
It also happened that in Mozart's Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, he exceptionally took the viola part instead of the violin (2000).
His last solo performance was on 27 June 2008 to a full house and a very enthusiastic audience. “Beethoven's lyrical Romance in F major radiated the humility of music and the beautiful tonal poetry of the Romance, so often admired as a concertmaster. Saint-Saens's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso are the emotional music of Romanticism. With extraordinary sensitivity, Albert Márkos 'sang' the poetic 'prelude' and then interwove the different moods/emotions with a light, romantic whimsy. (...) The slight nostalgia that was understandably associated with the 'farewell concert' was completely swept away by the appreciative, enthusiastic applause of the audience.”[8]
The chamber musician
In his life, Albert Márkos always complemented his orchestral work with chamber music, culminating in quartet playing, which he counts among the “most fortunate and perhaps most noble” realisations of his musical life.
In 1971, the quartet, in which three Márkos played together with András Ágoston, was assembled “ad hoc” for the Hungarian broadcast of Négy szerelmes dal (Four Love Songs) on Bucharest Television. In addition to the Márkos brothers, Albert and András, the composer himself, Albert Márkos the elder, played the viola solo.
This was the last public performance of his father as an instrumental performer, and he was no longer a chamber musician, so András Miklós was asked to play with him, and this began a very successful period in his life, rich in quartet playing, which, with changes and new beginnings, continues to this day, since - although the composition of the Concordia String Quartet has changed a lot over time - they have not officially “put an end” to quartet playing.
In retrospect, he feels that the first period of the string quartet was characterised by a striving for perfection. Béla Barabás[9] “officially” welcomed the new string quartet in 1974. “... an ensemble that had been playing together for ten years would be honoured by the performance of the pieces they had put on the programme. Without going into details, perhaps the concert could be described as 'pure'. It was nobly pure in intention, in interpretation, in sound, and this made it an unforgettable experience for the very large audience that filled the hall of the Music Lyceum.”
In 1979 they took part in the Brasov Chamber Music Festival, and in 1981 they gave a highly successful concert at the Cluj-Napoca Music Autumn Festival, which the critic again reported with great enthusiasm: “András Ágoston, Albert Márkos, András Miklós and András Márkos feel and think together, and their hearts beat together in music. All four of them are excellent instrumentalists, and the cornerstone of their playing style is the need to always sound noble.”[10]
The repertoire of Concordia was based on works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Dvorak, but Bartók's string quartets also played an important role: for example, String Quartet No.2 was not only played in concerts, but also recorded for radio. Works by contemporary composers were also performed: the Négy szerelmes dal (Four Love Songs) and Vonósnégyes (String Quartet) by Albert Márkos, Péter Vermesy's Elégia (Elegy) and works by Romanian composers (String Quartet No. 2 by Mihai Moldovan, String Quartet with Harp by Valentin Timaru).
After the departure of András Ágoston and András Márkos abroad in the 1990s, a new phase in the life of the Concordia String Quartet began with the two artists of the Pro Camera String Quartet remaining in Cluj-Napoca, Gerő Botár (violin) and Béla Török (cello), and the violist Olimpiu Moldovan, this time with Albert Márkos as the principal violinist.
During this period, their repertoire building was primarily determined by the fact that they also played in the contemporary music ensemble Ars Nova, where they gained a lot of experience in performing contemporary music. At the same time, the importance of the performance of Hungarian works became more prominent in their activities: the ensemble was asked by music historian Ferenc László to perform the string quartet of Ödön Farkas, and György Ruzitska's String Quartets No. 3 and No. 4 were not only played in concerts but also recorded for Radio Cluj-Napoca. The composer's String Quartet No. 2 was performed at the composers' evening celebrating the 70th birthday of Miklós Szalay in Kiskamon, and Hans Peter Türk's Improvisiations on an Old Saxon Song and C. Silvestri's String Quartet No. 2 were also performed.
After the unexpected and tragic death of Olimpiu Moldovan (2010), the most common composition of the quartet was probably Albert Márkos, Melinda Béres (violin), Erzsébet Király (viola) and Gyula Ortenszky (cello), so that in recent years only Albert Márkos has been playing in the ensemble. It was in this line-up, for example, that the string quartet Torso 1 was performed at a Márkos Albert Memorial Festival in 2014, and the “professional” interpretation of this piece was praised by the critic[11]
Bartók duos and their sources
In addition to the quartet, he also played in other chamber music ensembles from time to time. He also played the Bartók violin duos regularly. It was his idea that in 2013 Radio Cluj-Napoca broadcast a live concert of 44 violin duos by Bartók and their source region, which, in addition to the duos performed by Albert Márkos and Melinda Béres, was both varied and logical, with the participation of Réka Bárdos (vocals) and based on some archive recordings.
The concert programme and the studio recordings were used as the basis for the CD on which some of the duos from the 1982 series were also recorded, so that on this disc the duos are interpreted by three violinists, but the sound of the music is unified, as the overall performance in both series was characterised by simple, clear performances and harmony between the performers.
Artistic director of the chamber orchestras Concordia and Transilvania Philharmonic
In addition to the activities of the string quartet, the name Concordia has also been a hallmark of the chamber orchestra of the same name founded by Albert Márkos since the mid-1980s. Its activities were aimed at performing repertoire that had been excluded from the Philharmonic's concerts in an increasingly censored musical life, and its venue was usually the Unitarian Church in the city centre, with the framework of its performances being the Musical Devotion, i.e. a concert following a short prayer. Before the changes of '89, the ensemble was driven solely by enthusiasm. Mostly Hungarians played in it, but Romanian artists also joined in.
Despite bans: the Bartók Memorial Concert
On 7 July 1988, a chamber music concert in honour of the repatriation of Béla Bartók's ashes and his reburial in Budapest was organised by Albert Márkos with the help of his fellow musician Ádám Rónai. The Unitarian Church was packed to capacity, although only typed invitations were issued to announce the event, which was timed so that the concert began just as the ceremony ended on Kossuth Radio. A small women's choir, including some Romanian members of the Philharmonia's choir, was also assembled for the occasion, and was coached and conducted by another Romanian musician, Ciprian Rusu. The ensemble performed the pieces Bolyongás (Wandering), Tavasz and Legénycsúfoló (Spring and Young Men Blaming), 12 pieces from Mikrokozmosz (Mikrocosmos) (Zsolt Lászlóffy), a selection of duets (András Ágoston, Albert Márkos), four arrangements of Húsz magyar népdal (Twenty Hungarian Folk Songs) (Magda Barabás Kásler, Ferenc Fuchs) and the Melódia (Melody) movement from the Szólószonáta (Solo Sonata) (András Ágoston). “At that time, Bartók's name was not spoken aloud, but we, the performers and we present, felt our hearts pounding, knew exactly what it was about, and felt that music, praising God according to the psalm, was also a great servant to our communal and spiritual survival”[12] we read in Béla Barabás' article recalling the concert.
After the changes of '89, the Concordia Chamber Orchestra also had the opportunity to perform abroad: in 1991, the ensemble gave an independent concert in Budapest, and also a joint concert with the Camerata Transsylvanica orchestra. The following year, at the first Church Music Festival in Hungary (1992), Concordia performed works by contemporary Transylvanian composers (Bálint Bakfark-S. Toduta Tabulatúrák (Tabulatures), Hans Peter Türk Prelude and Canon, Boldizsár Csíky Vitézi énekek (Songs of the Warriors), Ede Terényi Miseparafrázisok a 17. századi Erdélyből (Mass Paraphrases from 17th century Transylvania). According to composer Hans Peter Türk, their concert in the Matthias Church “could have been recorded as it was performed there and then.”[13]
Two years later, Concordia also performed in Oradea, also in a concert of church music, with István Ruha (Vivaldi's The Four Seasons), and the orchestra also performed a flute transcription of the popular Vivaldi work with János Bálint solo.
The dissolution of the Concordia Chamber Orchestra was linked to the reorganisation of the Transilvania Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. The Concordia, composed mainly of Hungarian musicians, could obviously not form the backbone of the Philharmonia's chamber orchestra. The composition of the orchestra was decided in 1994 by the then director, George Dudea, with Albert Márkos taking over as artistic director, and with this, unfortunately, Concordia's activities came to an end.
Under the artistic direction of Albert Márkos, the chamber orchestra has performed, among many others, such rare works as Leopold Mozart's Serenade in D major and Symphony in G major (1998), the premiere of Terényi's Versenymű orgonára és kamarazenekarra (Concerto for organ and chamber orchestra) (2000), Bartók’s Divertimento and the flute transcription of Évszakok (Seasons) (2009).
A shaper of musical life
In addition to his activities as a violinist, Albert Márkos also took on the role of concert promoter, with the aim of improving the musical life in smaller towns where there were no professional ensembles, so that music lovers could rarely listen to concerts.
At the beginning of the eighties, in Székelykeresztúr, enthusiastic music lovers “discovered” the concert organizer in him: based on the idea of teacher Sándor Gálfalvi, the plan of the Székelykeresztúr chamber music season was realized with the help of Lajos Fülöp, the director of the local Picture Gallery and Museum. Later, the original idea was expanded, and they gave performances in Sighisoara, later in Odorheiu Secuiesc, then in Sfântu Gheorghe, occasionally in Târgu Mures, in Miercurea, and even in the Heart Hospital in Covasna. As a result of a selfless artistic gesture, Pál Búzás's Steinway piano, which he had bought at the time, “travelled” to Székelykeresztúr, making it possible for piano and piano accompaniment works to be performed in the Museum's Picture Gallery.
The artistic quality of the series in Szeklerland was guaranteed by the participation of renowned artists and ensembles such as Concordia, Pro Camera and the Bartha String Quartet, as well as the Aulos Trio and Wind Octet of the Transilvania Philharmonic, and the soloists, the audience was able to listen to performers such as István Ruha, András Ágoston, Florin Croitoru, Sorin Petrescu, Viniciu Moroianu, Attila Székely, the Rónai brothers, István and Ádám, the Márkos brothers, Albert and András, Tamás Daróczi, Mária Georgescu, Péter Hercz and many others.
He was able to draw on this concert-organising experience years later, when in 2017, at the request of conductor György Vashegyi, he helped organise the Symphony Orchestra of Hungarian Musicians from Beyond the Border. At first, it was not easy to bring together musicians from different countries who could embrace the idea of this Hungarian music-making together. Fortunately, an excellent orchestra was assembled for the very first concert, and its performance was a huge success. The creation of the ensemble and its annual music-making together is a real success story, which we were able to witness in Cluj-Napoca in 2019.
Keeping the family legacy alive
As a performer, he constantly strives to perform the works of his composer father: as a soloist he has performed the Double Concerto, as a chamber musician the Four Love Songs and the Flower Songs, and with various pianistic partners he has performed the violin and piano work In the Dance whenever he could. Through Arpeggione Publishing, this work was published in print by Albert Márkos, after Négy szerelmes dal (Four Love Songs), Virágénekek (Flower Songs) and Tréfa (Joke), and thanks to Pál Búzás, Albert Márkos also completed a four-hand arrangement of his incidental music for Áron Tamási's Songbird. The Torzó 1 String Quartet and the Torzó 2 Brass Quintet are also in preparation for publication, and the scores of these two works will complete the publication of Albert Márkos's chamber music.
New challenges, new plans - the academic
He never imagined that he would become an academic as a violinist, but after his 2019 award he did. As a new Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, he plans to promote the works of Transylvanian composers in Hungary in the near future. In the first year, he would like to introduce the works of Albert Márkos, Péter Vermesy, Sándor Veress and Gábor Jodál to music lovers in the country, primarily with the help of string quartets and musicologists.
Albert Márkos was one of the lucky ones: he started music school with a violin in his hands, and followed the “paths” of the violin, in orchestras and chamber music ensembles, as a soloist and - although not the focus of his activities - as a teacher, without detours or doubts, until his retirement, and even long afterwards, since he still takes the violin out of its case, although less frequently.
[1] Portrait of a musician: Márkos Albert, edited by Zsófia Balla, Radio Cluj-Napoca, March 1974. 19.
[2] Attila Demény: Péter Zsurka, Péter Zsurka Memorial Days, Cluj-Napoca, June 1-3, 1999, Programme.
[3] Gabriella Kulcsár: End of the Year Concert, Szabadság, 2 July 2008.
[4] Cristina Monica Bota: Missa solemnis, Adevarul de Cluj, 24 Oct. 1995.
[5] István Morvay: Zsurka Péter-emléknapok. Zenekari hangverseny (Péter Zsurka Memorial Days. Orchestra concert), Szabadság, 3 June 1999.
[6] Ferenc László: Utóhang a Zsurka Péter Emléknapokhoz (Afterword to the Péter Zsurka Memorial Days), A Hét, 1999/27.
[7] István Morvay: Interview with Albert Márkos, Szabadság, 12 April 2000.
[8] Gabriella Kulcsár: End of the Year Concert, Szabadság, 2 July 2008, pp.88-89.
[9] Béla Barabás: Welcome to the new string quartet, Utunk, 1974/ 4.
[10] Béla Barabás: Kolozsvári Zenei Ősz (Music Autumn in Cluj-Napoca), 1981, Utunk, 16 Oct. 1981.
[11] Gabriella Kulcsár: In memoriam Márkos Albert, Szabadság 8 Nov. 2014, pp. 224
[12] Béla Barabás: Minden tiltás dacára (In spite of all prohibitions), Helikon, 1990/1.
[13] Judit Benkő: Az Egyházzenei Fesztiválról és a Concordia kamarazenekar vendégszerepléséről: vélemények, impressziók tükrében (About the Church Music Festival and the Concordia Chamber Orchestra's guest appearance - opinions, impressions in the mirror), Művelődés, 1992/12.
[2022]