Binder Trio plays Bartók

He is a self-contained artist whose piano playing and compositions do not fall into any stylistic or genre category. Since the late 1970s, Binder has pursued with unrelenting consistency the path that he has set for himself, a path that has had no precedents in his own country. In his development as a composer, alongside the grandiose oeuvre of Béla Bartók, one can clearly trace the influence of the folklore of the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian homeland, the melodic world of the Volga-Kama region, and even the American repetitive school of Steve Reich. He has released more than 85 albums to date, and this time he and his trio will present their latest album from Bartók's series "For Children".

"When I first started playing Béla Bartók's For Children, I couldn't get to grips with the little pieces, somehow always feeling a sense of lack after hearing them performed. Perhaps I missed the variations I was familiar with from classical music, or the further development of themes. When I finished the pieces, I often felt that they should have started now. Later, when I was teaching them, we often improvised on an ostinato or harmony line. These fifteen little pieces are a selection from the four-volume series. In making the selections, I have tried to portray moods and characters. In the course of the work I tried to collect compositional techniques, editing and arranging principles that were essential to the short pieces. I opened up the closed, edited formal framework of each piece, and each short piece was extended with an improvisational section. It was exciting and inspiring to work with the intersection of beautiful folk ballads and the ornamentation and sound systems of ballads and blues found in African American folk music. I would like to thank my fellow musicians and friends: Tibor Fonay and Tamás Hidász for their creative contributions and for their excellent rhythm bases and grooves," Binder said of the album.