IN CONCERT
Solo Guitar
Live recording at Liszt Academy, Budapest
2016
ECM 2458
1. BUDAPEST - PART I        08:13
2. BUDAPEST - PART II       10:53
3. BUDAPEST - PART III      06:28
4. BUDAPEST - PART IV      06:01
5. BUDAPEST - PART V       07:19
6. BUDAPEST - PART VI      05:09
7. BUDAPEST - PART VII     05:25
8. BUDAPEST - PART VIII    07:37
9. SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW  03:06
 
Music by Ferenc Snétberger Except "somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg
 
The ECM debut of Ferenc Snétberger features the widely-acclaimed Hungarian guitarist in solo performance before a rapt audience at the Liszt Academy in Budapest . Snétberger’s richly improvisational eight-part suite - entitled “Budapest”- subtly draws upon influences from Brazilian music and flamenco, from jazz and classical tradition, as well as his own gypsy background. As an encore, he plays the Harold Arlen standard “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. Further releases with Ferenc Snétberger are in preparation.
 
Background
In Concert is Ferenc Snétberger’s first recording for ECM and a coming full circle for the Hungarian guitarist. It is drawn from a live performance at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he once had formative experiences as a young listener: “I heard Bach and it changed my life.” When Snétberger first encountered Johann Sebastian Bach, he was already steeped in jazz. In his richly musical Roma household his father and two brothers also played guitar and the records of John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Jim Hall and especially Django Reinhardt were a constant. “I started with jazz, and then the influence of classical music became very strong for me.”
 
Later came exposure to the great touchstones and references of the guitar-player’s universe: Brazilian, South American and flamenco. The elevating shock of hearing Egberto Gismonti in duo with Nana Vasconcelos provided a trigger. The gamut of these stylistic, cultural and personal exposures and influences spreads like a colour infusion through the music of In Concert. Snétberger has apprehended something essential of the purity of each of these strands. It’s precisely the combination and diversity of Snétberger’s heterogeneity, open and generous yet rarefied, that makes the ebb and flow of the music so captivating.
 
Eight of the pieces on the album are named for Budapest, Ferenc’s ville de coeur if not his home town (which is Salgótarján, about 120km to the north). “Budapest I” opens with an improvisation, comprising about half the performance, before the melody finally arrives – the tune Ferenc has performed in other formats notably in duo with trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, but here it is wholly transformed. As Snétberger describes it, the tune sits in him at all times “almost ready” for performance.
 
Also largely improvised, “Budapest II” gives witness to the impact of Bach on Snétbergers musical conception. “Before I play it, I hear Bach’s tones,” he says. The listener has the impression of multiple reflections, at various stages three voices — treble, bass and middle register.
 
“Budapest III” begins slowly with sounds like harp notes. The guitarist says Argentine ‘nuevo tango’ composer Astor Piazzolla inspired the melody which was originally written for a film, but is largely subsumed here in an extended improvisation. “Budapest IV” is another evocation of multiple voices, the catchy chordal melody redolent of a Brazilian samba. Suddenly, seductively, the melody is suspended and one has the impression of a saxophone or right-hand improvisation on the piano.
 
“Budapest V” is a free improvisation. The piece is without a fixed pulse but the timing inside it — a distinction (timing versus tempo) Ferenc keenly makes — helps explain perhaps the sense of both looseness and precision. 
 
“Budapest VI” announces an entirely different mood. Listeners familiar with the guitarist’s oeuvre may recognise the melody, a motive from a tune (“Empathy”) written for large ensemble and performed previously with Arild Andersen and Paolo Vinaccia. 
 
The light-touch, open harmonies of “Budapest VII” evoke springtime for the guitarist. This was the first time this tune was ever performed. With the ballad “Budapest VIII”, the music takes a reflective turn. A version of “Over the Rainbow” rounds out the album, the concert encore at the Liszt Academy.
Further ECM recordings with Ferenc Snétberger are in preparation, including a recording of his new trio with Anders Jormin and Joey Baron.
 
 

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SNÉTBERGER BRIDGES KONZERT MÜPA BUDAPEST 2021.10.21.

GLB JAZZFESTIVAL ITALY | September 2016

GLB JAZZFESTIVAL ITALY | September 2016

BUDAPEST| ASSISI SANT FERENC CHURCH |2016-10-01

BUDAPEST| ASSISI SANT FERENC CHURCH |2016-10-01

TITOK ALBUM RELEASE TOUR OCT. 17

TITOK ALBUM RELEASE TOUR OCT. 17

FERENC SNÉTBERGER- TONY LAKATOS |  FRANKFURT AM MAIN | GETHSEMANEKIRCHE | NOVEMBER 17

FERENC SNÉTBERGER- TONY LAKATOS  |  FRANKFURT AM MAIN | GETHSEMANEKIRCHE | NOVEMBER 17

with CONCERT BUDAPEST & ANDRÁS KELLER AT PALACE OF ARTS IN BUDAPEST

with CONCERT BUDAPEST  & ANDRÁS KELLER  AT PALACE OF ARTS IN BUDAPEST

JTI TRIER JAZZ AWARD 2018

 JTI TRIER JAZZ AWARD 2018

Tehran | Festival SHOW OF HANDS | Septemeber 2018

Tehran | Festival SHOW OF HANDS  | Septemeber 2018

MOSCOW | TCHAIKOWSKY CONSERVATORY | OCTOBER 2018

MOSCOW | TCHAIKOWSKY CONSERVATORY  | OCTOBER 2018

BUDAPEST | LISZT ACADEMY |  SNÈTBERGER AND KELLER QUARTET | Dec 18

BUDAPEST | LISZT ACADEMY |  SNÈTBERGER  AND KELLER QUARTET | Dec 18

Hamburg | Elbphilharmonie | Trio feat. Anders Jormin Joey baron | Febr. 19

Hamburg | Elbphilharmonie | Trio feat. Anders Jormin  Joey baron | Febr. 19

Budapest | Liszt Academy | Oct. 19 with Arild Andersen & Markus Stockhausen

Budapest | Liszt Academy | Oct. 19 with Arild Andersen & Markus Stockhausen

Zsidó Kulturális Fesztivál 2015

Zsidó Kulturális Fesztivál 2015

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra I Budapest National Theater I 2015

Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra I  Budapest National Theater I 2015

Open Air Concert I Eszterházy CastleI I Snétberger Quartet & guests I 2015

Open Air Concert I Eszterházy CastleI I Snétberger Quartet & guests I 2015

Snétberger I Anders I Baron I zeneakadémia 2015

Snétberger I Anders I Baron I zeneakadémia 2015

Budapest I Liszt AcademyI Snétberger Quartet I Markus Stockhausen 2014

Budapest I Liszt AcademyI Snétberger Quartet I Markus Stockhausen  2014

Pécs I Kodály Központ I Quartet & Michel Godard I 2014

Pécs I Kodály Központ I Quartet & Michel Godard I 2014

Open Air I Budapest I 2014 I Concerto Budapest I Quartet I Michel Godard & students

Open Air I Budapest I 2014 I Concerto Budapest I Quartet I Michel Godard & students

Budapest I Liszt Academy I 2013

Budapest I Liszt Academy I 2013

with Richard Bona, Pécs, Kodaly Center, 2013

with Richard Bona, Pécs, Kodaly Center,  2013

Berlin, Philharmonie, KMS, with Nádor String Quartet, 2010

Berlin, Philharmonie, KMS, with Nádor String Quartet, 2010

WITH BOBBY MCFERRIN | VESZPRÉMFEST 2005

WITH BOBBY MCFERRIN  | VESZPRÉMFEST 2005

WITH FRIENDS | LISZT ACADEMY 2006

WITH FRIENDS | LISZT ACADEMY 2006

TRIO NOMAD | FEAT. ARILD ANDERSEN & PAOLO VINACCIA | VESZPREMFEST 2005

TRIO NOMAD | FEAT. ARILD ANDERSEN & PAOLO VINACCIA |  VESZPREMFEST 2005

Berlin 1988 © Gyula Traumberger

Berlin 1988 © Gyula Traumberger