Mate Hollos: 4 – 2 – 1

Mate Hollos (1954– )
Four hands, which belong to two people, and these two musicians are one soul when they play four hands. This is what the title expresses on the title page of the composition, which consists of five short movements. I am not referring just symbolically to ”one soul”, but also to the fact that the two parts blend together in such a way it seems one performer is playing them. This is so even when – as in the first movement – melody and counter-melody wander from one pianist's hands to the other, or when – as in the second movement – their responses to one another merge into a melodic current passing from one to the other, or when – as in the fourth movement – the lower part seems to be constructed for a left hand, the music in the higher register for a right hand, or when – as in the third and fifth movements – they share between them a melody which seems to be played by just one musician. I composed the piece for my pianist friends Ferenc Kerek and his wife Éva Fekete, who are welded into one soul not just on the keyboard.