21-year-old pianist Elemér Balázs makes his debut with a brave record! This young artist comes from a family of musicians and is a student at the Liszt Academy of Music. He already has a number of competition wins and awards under his belt, including Hungary’s Junior Prima Award and a Fonogram Award. He has written music for theater and performed in Hungary’s most prestigious concert halls and abroad as well. On his first album (released by the Fonó), he plays Chopin's 24 Preludes in an unusual presentation: each prelude is followed by the artist's own rewrite; a ‘reflection’. Chopin’s well-known pieces become absolutely contemporary through the ‘reflections’ by a young composer and pianist. The record has been released with support from the Wacław Felczak Foundation.

"Chopin and improvisation.
There are no terms that would be so close to each other than these two, and there is no better feeling starting with this wonderful project for my debut album.
I feel like improvisation in general that Bach, Mozart and not least, Chopin resorted to on their concerts, extinct from the present classical blood circulation. I would like to deliver a message with my album, that classical improvisation is in fact lives and thrives, and finding a more perfect musical basis besides the Chopin preludes is indeed hard!" (Elemér Balázs)

Elemér Balázs was born in Budapest on December 16, 2000 into a musician family. When he officially began his piano studies at the age of 6 as a student of Ágnes Práda, he had already composed pieces of his own. Currently he is a student of Kálmán Dráfi at Budapest’s Liszt Academy of Music. He is a recipient of the Creative Art Prize (2017), Grand Prix and Special Prizes at the National Piano Competition for the ‘Best Bach Interpretation’ (2018). He has taken courses with Gábor Takács-Nagy and Tamás Vásáry. His pieces for strings composed at the request of his father were performed by the Dohnányi Orchestra of Budafok, Hungary and appeared on the record ‘Eternal Love’ which received a Fonogram Award. His first music for theatre was written for the production of Sándor Weöres' “Octopus”, which became the performance of the season in 2018-2019. In 2019 he received the Junior Prima Award, then in 2020 he worked for the first time with the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a classical solo pianist in Budapest at the Academy of Music, the Palace of the Arts, Hungarian Radio, ‘BMC’, Hungarian Institute of Musicology, for the Óbuda Society, and at the Miskolc National Theatre and the Institute of Higher Education in Kőszeg, Hungary. He has also performed in the French cities of Nevers and Paris.

No. 1 C major 0.45
I. Reflection 0.51
No. 2 A minor 2.00
II. Reflection 1.49
No. 3 G major 0.57
III. Reflection 1.13
No. 4 E minor 1.41
IV. Reflection 1.31
No. 5 D major 0.39
V. Reflection 0.42
No. 6 B minor 1.38
VI. Reflection 1.59
No. 7 A major 0.35
VII. Reflection 0.34
No. 8 F sharp minor 1.45
VIII. Reflection 1.24
No. 9 E major 1.11
IX. Reflection 1.06
No. 10 C sharp minor 0.26
X. Reflection 0.51
No. 11 B major 0.40
XI. Reflection 1.14
No. 12 G sharp minor 1.11
XII. Reflection 1.19
No. 13 F sharp major 2.52
XIII. Reflection 2.32
No. 14 E flat minor 0.32
XIV. Reflection 0.51
No. 15 D flat major 5.01
XV. Reflection 2.53
No. 16 B flat minor 1.03
XVI. Reflection 1.16
No. 17 A flat major 2.47
XVII. Reflection 1.57
No. 18 F minor 0.49
XVIII. Reflection 1.16
No. 19 E flat major 1.19
XIX. Reflection 1.03
No. 20 C minor 1.40
XX. Reflection 1.01
No. 21 B flat major 1.45
XXI. Reflection 1.35
No. 22 G minor 0.41
XXII. Reflection 0.58
No. 23 F major 0.50
XXIII. Reflection 1.02
No. 24 D minor 2.28
XXIV. Reflection 1.39

A felvétel Budapesten a Pannónia Stúdióban készült / Recorded in Budapest at Pannónia Studio. Felvétel és keverés/ Recording and mixing: György Mohai, Fotó/Photo: Péter Lugosi, Festmény/Painting: Andrea Mantegna: Camera degli spozi (1465-1474, detail), Producer: László Horváth, Nyomdai előkészítés/Pre press: Dóra Kiss, Marianne Szilasi
2021 Fonó Music Hall
A lemez létrejöttét a Wacław Felczak Alapítvány támogatta a Felczak Lemezek program keretében. The creation of the album was supported by Wacław Felczak Foundation within the framework of Felczak Albums Programme.