Andras Schiff returns to Hungary, almost

The celebrated pianist, ends a prolonged absence from his homeland by playing at the Esterházy Concert Series next weekend, just across the border in Haydn’s Eisenstadt. He’s not actually entering Hungarian territory, but coming closer than he has been for years.

In an interview with a Hungarian newspaper, he admits to missing the chirping of sparrows in Budapest and maintained a certain enigma about the present situation.

Index.hu: If you had to sum up Hungary in a single chord, which one would you choose and why?
András Schiff: The tritonus which was called the devil’s interval in the Middle Ages.

He is comparably acidic on the present state of music:

Today, everything is in business, commercialism, marketing, and it is extremely tasteless and disgusting. The fact that, for example, I managed to achieve something in the midst of all this, is almost a miracle.

Full interview here.