Péter Tornyai Composition DLA Final Concert Presented by Liszt Academy

The two major compositions in this doctoral concert belong among the key milestones in the compositional career of Péter Tornyai. They are works that bring together several strands, in which many compositional techniques and aesthetic approaches, which were experimented on in smaller pieces in the creator’s workshop, are set in a larger, common context. The oratorio Dixit for solo cello, vocal soloists, male choir and percussion instruments is sacred music; the Latin text arises from rich associations to the seven days of Creation and the seven last words of Christ on the cross. Subito piano also comprises seven movements, and there are further similarities to the oratorio beyond its grand format and dramaturgy: the process of the piece continues in a more abstract way yet here, too, it spans the arc from creation to immersion in the infinite. In the wake of its hugely successful premiere in 2019 a critic called it “the most significant piano work of the past decade (decades?)”.