Dezső Ránki (born 8 September 1951) is a Hungarian virtuoso concert pianist with a broad repertoire and a significant discography of solo, duo and concerto works.

Life and career

Born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, he began taking piano lessons at the

Budapest Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

at the age of eight. When he was thirteen, he enrolled at the Budapest Conservatory and from 1964 to 1969 was a pupil of Klára Máthé.Biographical note in booklet accompanying Teldec CDs 9031-76139-2, 1992. Subsequently he studied from 1969 to 1973 at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

, with his mentors

Pál Kadosa Pál Kadosa (; 6 September 1903, Levice, Léva, Austria-Hungary (now Levice, Slovakia) – 30 March 1983, Budapest) was a pianist and Hungarians, Hungarian composer of the post-Béla Bartók, Bartók generation. His early style was influenced ...

and

Ferenc Rados Ferenc Rados (born 26 October 1934, in Budapest) is a Hungarian pianist and professor of piano and chamber music. Until 1996, he taught at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. After retiring, he gave master classes in Europe and ...

. Among his classmates were renowned pianists

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

and

Zoltán Kocsis Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer. Biography Studies Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 19 ...

. With Kocsis he featured in two Hungarian documentaries, on the Budapest Symphony Orchestra tour of the US 'Tizenhatezer Kilometer... A MRT Szimfonikus Zenekara Amerikaban' (1971), and 'Kocsis Zoltán es Ránki Dezső – Kettős Arckép' (1976) 'Kocsis Zoltán and Ránki Dezső – Double Portrait'. From the time Ránki won first prize at the Robert Schumann International Competition in Zwickau, he has had an international career performing in Europe, Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the USA and Japan. His repertoire ranges from the Classical period (Mozart, Beethoven), through the Romantics (Schumann, Brahms) to contemporary works (Kurtag). He gave the premiere of the piano concerto (1984) of Zsolt Durkó. Alain Pâris. ''Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle.''

Éditions Robert Laffont Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. It is considered one of the most ...

, Paris, 1995 (p. 793). He has played with the

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

, the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, the

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

(Amsterdam), the

Orchestre National de France The Orchestre national de France (ONF; literal translation, ''National Orchestra of France'') is a French symphony orchestra based in Paris, founded in 1934. Placed under the administration of the French national radio (named Radio France since ...

under such conductors as Sir

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

Sándor Végh Sándor Végh (17 May 19126 January 1997) was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century. Education Sándor Végh was born in 1912 in Kolozsvár, Tr ...

Lorin Maazel Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...

, and

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the foun ...

. He was awarded twice the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the ...

, the highest cultural award in Hungary. From 1985, Ránki frequently performs duet recitals with his wife Edit Klukon. Together they have a son, Fülöp Ránki, who is also a skilled pianist. He has been a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Discography

Ránki has recorded mainly for Hungaroton; his large discography includes: *Bartók : Three Burlesques Op. 8c / Allegro Barbaro / The First Term At The Piano / Sonatina / Rumanian Folk Dances / Rumanian Christmas Carols / Suite Op. 14 / Three Hungarian Folk-Tunes (Hungaroton, 1967) *Schumann : Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 (Hungaroton 1970) *Chopin : Etudes, Op. 10 / Nocturne In B Major, Op.9/3 / Ballade In F Major, Op. 38 / Ballade In G Minor, Op. 23 (Hungaroton 1971) *Beethoven : Sonata No.8 C-Moll, Op. 13 'Pathétique', Sonata No.24 In F Sharp Major, Op. 78, Sonata No.21 In C Major, Op. 53 'Waldstein' (Hungaroton 1971) *Mozart : Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K448 / Ravel Ma Mère l'Oye / Brahms Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56b with Zoltan Kocsis (Hungaroton1973) *Mozart : Concerti for Two and Three Pianos, with Zoltán Kocsis, András Schiff, Hungarian State Orchestra, János Ferencsik (Hungaroton 1973) *Schumann : Carnaval / Waldszenen (Hungaroton 1973) *Schubert : Wanderer Fantasie, Klavierstück in E♭, Piano Sonata in G (Hungaroton 1974) *Schubert : Sonata in B-Flat Major, Impromptus (Denon 1975) *Bartók : Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, with Zoltán Kocsis, Ferenc Petz, József Marton (Hungaroton 1976) *Mozart : Complete Keyboard Solo Music (Hungaroton 1976) *Bartók : Mikrokozmosz, For Children (1908–1909) (Hungaroton 1977) *Debussy : Images I-II / Children's Corner / L'Isle Joyeuse (Hungaroton 1977) *Liszt : Dante Sonata (Hungaroton 1978) *Mozart : Sonatas for Piano Duet (complete) with Zoltán Kocsis, (Hungaroton 1978) *Mozart : Piano Concertos: No. 9 & No. 14 (Hungaroton 1978) *Stravinsky : Három Tétel A Petruskából / Piano-Rag-Music / Tango / Szerenád A-ban / Szonáta (Hungaroton 1979) *Schumann : Kinderszenen Op.15 / Fantasy Op.17 / Arabeske Op.18 (Hungaroton 1979) *Beethoven : Sonatas and Variations for Cello and Piano (Complete) with

Miklós Perényi Miklós Perényi (born 5 January 1948) is a Hungarian cellist. He was born in Budapest into a musical family and studied at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Ede Banda and Enrico Mainardi. He continued his studies at the Accademi ...

(Hungaroton 1979) *Mozart : Piano Quartets KV 478 & 493, with the Éder Quartet (Telefunken 1979) *Brahms : Piano Quintet in F Minor. Op. 34, with the

Bartók Quartet The Bartók Quartet is a Hungarian string quartet ensemble, founded in 1963 in Budapest as the successor ensemble of the Komlós Quartet (1957–63). Their repertoire includes especially works of the Viennese Classicism and Béla Bartók as w ...

(Hungaroton 1980) *Weiner, Strawinsky, Bartók, Schumann, Verdi, Debussy (works for clarinet) with Kálmán Berkes *Chopin : Preludes (Hungaroton 1982) *Lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Wolf (Hungaroton 1982) *Brahms : Horn Trio / Beethoven Horn Sonata / R. Strauss Andante with

Ferenc Tarjáni Ferenc () is a given name of Hungarian origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, Francesco, François, Frank and Franz. People with the name include: * Ferenc Batthyány, Hungarian magnate and general * Ferenc Berényi, Hungarian artist * ...

Gábor Takács-Nagy Gábor Takács-Nagy (born 17 April 1956,''International Who's Who in Classical Music'' (25th edition). Routledge (London), p. 807 (2009) (). Budapest), is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz ...

(Hungaroton 1983) *Ravel : Sonatine, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Gaspard de la nuit, Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn, Prelude (Hungaroton 1984) *Brahms : Intermezzi op.116–119, Ballades op.10, (Harmonia Mundi France 1994) *Bartók : Piano Concerto No. 3, Three Burlesques, Allegro Barbaro, Suite Op. 14 (Hungaroton 1994) *Satie : Socrate, Liszt Via Crucis with Edit Klukon, (Budapest Music Center Records 2005) .

Awards

*1972

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

for Chopin recital (1971) *1973 Liszt Prize *1978

*1982 Art Prize of City of Budapest *1984 Merited Artist *1988 Bartók-Pásztory Award *1990 Excellent Artist *2005 Prima Primissima Award *2006 Bartók Memorial Award (Herend) *2007 For Hungarian Art *2008 Kossuth Prize

References

External links

*
Biography at Naxos.comBiography at ClassicsOnline.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranki, Dezso 1951 births Hungarian classical pianists Hungarian male musicians Male classical pianists Musicians from Budapest Academic staff of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music Living people