Death of a Hungarian maestro
mainWe are receiving reports of the death of Zoltan Pesko, a leading figure in Hungarian musical life and a close friend of the Kurtags. He was 83.
Abroad, he was Lorin Maazel’s assistant at the radio orchestra in Berlin. He was also chief conductor in Lisbon.
Sad news. I only knew him from recordings; he struck me as a fine conductor. I especially admired his recording on Arte Nova of Liszt’s Totentanz (with Jitka Cechova), two symphonic poems, and especially, two transcriptions (Nuages gris, Unstern!) by Heinz Holliger. Those last two works are simply astonishing, and the performances very fine.
his recordings of the 8 PETRASSI concerti for orchestra are very important….recorded in various venues: Maida Vale, St Pancras Town Hall, Marl, Hungary, Giuseppe Verdi Hall
Thank you for that tip — I’ll act on it.