In 2005, Felföldi Levelek (Letters from the Highlands) brought to stage one of the most comprehensive performances on the history of southern Slovakia's Hungarian, Slovak, Gypsy and Jewish dance and music. The basis of the show comes from the letters written during collection trips by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and from the writings of Sándor Petőfi and Sándor Márai, each accompanied by the music and dance of the area concerned.
The show was so successful that we decided the music itself was worth recording for CD. Of course the quality of the musicians and the band also warranted recording. Gergely Koncz, László Mester and Tibor Lelkes manage wonderfully to make the varied and colourful music of Felvidék their own. Along with their esteemed colleges, Dénes Németh and Endre Liber and together with the dancers, they give such a genuine performance and reproduce a deep and authentic representation of the village musicians’ and dancers’ world of song and dance in which you can recognize the style of individual characters. The listener is given an audibly graceful and confident recital of spirit lifting music and beside the deep aesthetic experience a true and rich knowledge is portrayed.
From Péter Árendás “Beside the aesthetic experience, the confident performance portrays a rich possession of knowledge to the listener.” (Új Szó newspaper; 06.09.2006.)
- Gergely Koncz– violin
- Dénes Németh– violin
- Endre Liber– cimbalom
- László Mester– viola
- Tibor Lelkes– double bass
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Anikó Lépes, Zsófia Varsányi, Dusan Hégli, Imre Madocsai, Attila Oláh– vocals
Musical arrangements: Dusan Hégli, Gergely Koncz
Musical director: Péter Árendás