BUDAPEST (dpa) – Andras Keller, violinist and head of the internationally acclaimed Keller Quartet, is growing disgruntled about being accorded little honour in his home country, Hungary.
Hungarians esteem classical music and are proud of the world talent such as composers Bela Bartok and Gyorgy Ligeti and the conductor Sir George Solti that their small country has produced.But Keller feels he has been given the cold-shoulder treatment, and now he is threatening that he and his quartet, who have continued to live by choice in Hungary, will only perform abroad in future.“We made a career in the world, and slowly became strangers here in Hungary,” says Keller sadly. That disappointment comes after years of awkwardly trying to manoeuvre in a close-knit, competitive and sometimes jealous classical music community.Keller’s devotion to music and the international accolades that he has received attest to a brilliant career.“I simply don’t know why they are less known in Hungary,” said Peter Mate, who runs the Budapest Autumn Festival, a yearly festival that also deals with contemporary music.“But it is my personal feeling that the quartet has succeeded in being more present in the West, which had the effect that Hungarian promoters and producers now see them in that light, and less as a Hungarian quartet.”Since its formation in 1986 by four music students at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, the Keller Quartet has won the most prestigious European string-quartet competitions.In 1990, within a four-week period the quartet took two of profession’s most prestigious awards by winning both the Evian International String Quartet competition and Italy’s Paolo Borciani International Competition.Over the years, the Keller Quartet have also been the guests of many major music festivals, including those in Schleswig-Holstein, Lucerne and Edinburgh, and they have played in the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.The quartet’s repertoire includes Beethoven, Schubert and Bartok, and they work closely with contemporary Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag.So one would think Hungarian presenters and promoters would be lining up to present the Keller Quartet, to promote their CDs or just shake hands with the travelling ambassador of Hungarian classical music. Think again.Some of the responsibility for Keller not having found a niche of his own in Hungarian musical life may rest on his own shoulders, as he admits.“We have always lived here, but have had little professional attachment to Hungary,” said Keller. “And when we started to tour throughout the world, I think there was a lot of jealousy. Slowly, we became less connected with the country.”Keller laments that his quartet was never granted a “debut” concert in Budapest’s prestigious Franz Liszt Academy, where the quartet was launched, but displays his patriotism by always playing the music of Hungarian composers at his concerts.He also admits at having shied away from the press in Hungary, and even of breaking an unwritten law against proposing performances.In Hungary, etiquette in musical life dictates that the “master” musicians are like gurus who must be asked to perform. “Marketing” one’s skills is viewed as unseemly.In addition, the competitive environment of communist times still prevails in Hungary, where the question of prestige is more important than modern professional musical marketing.Keller’s musical genius, say some Hungarian promoters, is sometimes overshadowed by his temperamental nature.Classical music is in the hands of a small community of presenters and music professionals, so personal relationships and even long-ago spats have a way of affecting what audiences see performed.“Andras is an extremely emotional person who sometimes doesn’t bother with politeness or social rules,” says Hamburg-based Sonia Simmenauer, Keller’s manager. “When he feels that someone is using music, or not being totally honest about it, he can be brutal.“Yet when he feels that someone is honest and giving to the music, he will be the sweetest person.”Simmenauer, who is the manager of some of the most prestigious string quartets in the world, says the classical music world in Hungary is draped with the mystery of intertwining relationships and battles of personal egos.“Keller is not educated in understanding how this world works,” said Simmenauer. “He has been educated, as many of the Hungarian musicians have, by putting the music above everything else.“Maybe they are right, because the quality shows, and they know no deviation. But in many cases it comes at the expense of personal and professional relationships.”In most of Europe and North America, classical music has become a commercial product that is marketed the same way as art or fast cars. In Hungary, passions – and antipathies – can still affect success.“Some of my artists have taught me what a manager has to be, but none have taught me what it is to be a musician driven only by music,” said Simmenauer. “Andras Keller is not living in our world, and that is what makes him fascinating, and difficult.“He is one artists that I do not want to have missed in my life.”
