White Angels op. 39 (2013)
- for string quartet
The composition is a tribute to the art of George Crumb. In the piece can be found direct indications to the composition of George Crumb’s Black Angels.
First performance: Budapest, Béla Bartók Memorial House, 23 November 2013 (Accord Quartet)
Duration: 12 minutes 
Score: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/146937.html

White Angels op. 39 (2013)

Souvenirs de Pierrot op. 2 (1988)
Written as an exam composition at the Academy of Music. First performers: Gábor Adamik (tuba), Péter Szlovencsák (piano), Liszt Academy, Room 26, May 1989
First public presentation: Béla Bartók Memorial House, 20 November 2013 (Róbert Vida - tuba, Balázs Fülei - piano)
Duration: 5 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com) 
The score is available: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/121021.html

Les souvenirs de Pierrot op. 2 (1988)

Brass Segments (Six Copper Engravings) op. 7 (1993)
for brass quintet
A special tone can be heard from the piece which was typical in Hungary at the end of the twentieth century in regard to brass quintet. The composition is owing to a friendship between the composer and the excellent tuba player Gábor Adamik who was the leader of the Academia Brass Quintet. The Brass Segments was the first piece of the composer which was recorded in a radio studio. During the recording the composer had to conduct in the last movement but the composition was presented several times at a concert without a conductor too. The piece was written during the last study year of the composer at the Liszt Ferenc Academy.  The first performance was in Mini Festival in 1994.
Duration: 10 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 7 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com) 
The score is available: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/106646.html

Brass Segments op. 7 (1993)

Duo fantasie op. 6 (1994)
Written under the influence of Kurtág’s Eight Duets op. 4
First performance: Budapest, Fészek Artists’ Club, 30.04.1995. (Péter Somogyi - violin, Krisztina Demjén - zymbalon)
Duration: 8 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 14 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)
The score is available: https://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/167777.html

Duo Fantasia op. 6 (1994)

Dolour closed in ice op. 66 (2022)
- for violoncello and piano
The original title in French: Douleur fermée dans la glace.
The title is a reflection of a book title (Dolour closed in stone - the life of Michelangelo, author: Karel Schulz) what was read by the composer in his adolescence. But at the same time the title is a mention to emotions (for example forbidden love) which can’t be experienced. But this status (to be closed in ice) spelt that this situation can be colliquate anytime.
First performance: Budapest, FSZEK, Five Larks Salon, 21 December 2022 (Zoltán Onczay - violoncello, Emma Mocsári - piano)
Duration: 5 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 75 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Douleur fermée dans la glace op. 66 (2021)

Lux æterna op. 24 (2006)
- for mixed choir and electroacoustic
Two of Bartók’s  choruses, Bolyongás (Roaming) and Senkim a világon (I’ve no one in the world) are Bánkövi’s favorites, and he will often quote the beautiful texts without melody. Lux æterna for choir and electroacoustic has no text either; in an effort to produce spatial sound effects, the choir divided into three smaller choruses sings sounds only, that is, vowels and consonants that continuously flow or melt from one into the other. This creates perpetual motion within a prolonged note or chord, perhaps evocative of the line from Senkim a világon: “I hear the murmur of the soft-flowing water”. The second section, however, bears a resemblance not only to the text, but also the harmonic and melodic turns of Bartók’s chorus. “The summer river-water sleeps in winter, but my aching heart will never be at rest.”
Lux æterna is divided into three sections by the electroacoustic which is, however, present in the works not only in the solos; it carries the choir on its harmonic system, helping the singers. This work, paying tribute Bartók’s eternal work believes to radiate pure light, attests to the influence of two other composers. One is the Swedish Anders Hillborg, who’s chorus for vocal sounds without words fundamentally changed Bánkövi’s notions of the human voice, and the other is his much loved and respected professor, Zoltán Pongrácz whose magical Madrigal for choral voices and electroacoustic opened the gates of a new musical world during Bánkövi’s Music Academy years. He borrowed a rhythmic combination from this work, too, concealed way, but comes to the fore at the end of the work.
The wok received its première on 2 June 2006 in Studio 6 of the Hungarian Radio, as part of the Concert Cycle of our Time series celebrating the 125th anniversary of Béla Bartók’s birthday.

Lux aeterna op. 24 (2006)

Repetitive (Re-petit-ív) op. 46 (2015)
- for solo flute
The excellent flute player, Gergely Matuz, who looking always for challenges asked the composer for a very difficult piece in which he can use the special play technic, the circular breathing during 30 minutes. The composer refused the request saying it would be an etude and nothing more. But a very shorter piece was born with the title; Repetitive (In Hungarian Re-petit-ív what is a pun: ív = arc, petit=little /In French/).
The dedication of the composition is addressed to Gergely Matuz of course. He was the only performer in the first half of the 21st century in Hungary who knew the circular breathing with staccato, in infinite length.
First presentation: Budapest, Nest Artist’s Club, on 9 December 2015 (Gergely Matuz)
Duration: 4 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 54 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Repetitive op. 46 (2015)

Sonata WoO 1 (1988)
Written as an exam composition at the Academy of Music under the influence of Bartók’s Sonata and Berg’s Sonata. 
First performer: Veronika Botos (viola).
First public presentation: Óbudai Társaskör (date unknown), Veronika Botos.
Duration: 13 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 2 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Sonata WoO 1 (1988)

In the splintered Field of the setting Sun op. 60 (2020)
The work was written for the composer’s competition of the Anima Musicae String Orchestra in July and August 2020. The title comes from a poem (The nadir celebrated) by János Pilinszky. This title predicts the music message and mood of the composition. In the work get a place three glasses tuned (C, C, D), two iron puts and two iron bucket too. The piece won the first prize of the competition and two special prizes too: Prize of FUGA and Prize of Anima Musicae Orchestra.
First performance: Anima Musicae String Orchestra, conducted by László Tihanyi - Budapest, Marble Hall, 13.09.2020 (ArTRIUM Festival).
Duration: 11 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 69 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

János Pilinszky: The nadir celebrated (1972)
In the bloody heat of the sties 
who dares read?
And in the splintered field 
of the setting sun,
at earth's ebb 
and sky's flow, 
who dares set off - anywhere?

Who dares
stand still, eyes closed, 
at the nadir,
at the point where
there will always be a last flailing wave, 
a roof,
a beautiful face, or even
a single hand, nod, movement of the hand?

Who can
ease himself into sleep 
with a satisfied heart, 
into sleep that splashes beyond 
the bitterness of childhood 
and lifts the sea to his face
like a fistful of water?

Translated by Peter Sherwood

In the Splintered Field of the Setting Sun op. 60 (2020)

Ave Maria no. 2 op. 51 (2017)
- for girl choir, soprano soloist and violoncello
Text: 
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, 
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.  Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis, peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMvkrPn5y4Y 
Dedication: Angelica Girls’ Choir
First performance: Veszprém (Hungary), St. Michael’s Basilica, 10.03.2018 
(Angelica Girls’ Choir, conducted by Zsuzsanna Gráf, Andrea Deák /solo/, Bence Bánkövi /violoncello/)
Duration: 6 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 59 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Ave Maria No. 2 op. 51 (2017)

- for piccolo/flute, oboe, viola, violoncello and vibraphone
The composition was written for the Vántus Days Szeged. 
First performance: Szeged, Fricsay Hall, 22 November 2016 (Laura Varga - flute, Tamás Steiler - oboe, Enikő Nagy - viola, Györgyi Kőrösi - violoncello, Péter Somorjai - vibraphone)
Duration: 8 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 56 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Chrystals Of The Wind op. 48 (2016)

- for four soloists (countertenor, 2 tenor, bass)
Miserere was written for a composers’ competition published by the world-famous Hilliard Ensemble. The contest had no specific text either, only the range of the four outstanding soloists had to be taken into consideration. Because the working period coincided with Lent that year, the composer decided on a setting of the test Miserere. The work consists of a simple three-line excerpt from Miserere which the composer holds to be the full confession of the soul:  
Miserere Mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam Tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Performing the work is a special challenge for the singers; the prayers, peaceful meditations are interrupted by passionate cries calling for ever changing modes of singing. A large number of glissandi make the performance difficult, especially since all the parts are simultaneously involved glissandi.
First performance: Hungarian Radio, Studio 6, in May 2004 (Voces Aequales)
Duration: 19 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 15 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Miserere op. 14 (2001)

Accord(ion) concerto - work description
"In the spring of 2001, the Hungarian Music Association, and through it, the National Cultural Basis Programme, contacted me to compose a new musical piece. By that time, I had long been dealing with the accordion that I considered an increasingly popular instrument also in contemporary music. So I was happy to seize this opportunity and we agreed upon the composition of an accordion concerto that would have been written for a string orchestra, besides the solo instrument. But half a year had passed between the signature of the contract and the start of composition, so I completely forgot what we had agreed upon before at least as regards the musical potential. So, when I finally started to work, composed the music for a grand orchestra in which the accordion was only slightly accentuated. I made the musical sketch of the piece in three days, then instrumented it in three weeks, and did not think of the contract at all. I was almost ready when the Association asked me to show them the first part of the composition. At this point, it turned out that I did not write the composition in a way that we agreed upon. Fortunately, only some smaller problems of instrumentation were left so I did not stop finishing the work when the Hungarian Music Association told me not to support the presentation of the work as I did not fulfil the terms of the contract (as I composed a piece for a much larger ensemble). In the spring of 2002, through the good offices of a devoted contemporary music editor of the Radio, Eszter Lazar, the Symphony Orchestra of Hungarian Radio accepted to present my musical composition. So, in April 2002, I finished the score.
This musical composition is not an accordion concerto but rather the competition of accordions built on four modes: minor, major, diminished and seventh chords. These are the basic harmonies of the accordion instrument. The play of words in the title, Accord(ion) Concerto, indicates it precisely that the piece is about the competition of harmonies, and not that of the instruments and the orchestra.
Though it must be admitted that from among the instruments, the accordion plays the most prominent part. Besides the four harmonies, the sounding structure of the piece is blended by a combination of interval steps that finally extends to a major third by semitones. The musicians reach the semitone steps mainly with continuous glissando-playing, while trying to exceed by it the limits of the 12-tonal system. The continuous glissando-move is also present throughout the composition, increasing towards the middle part (sometimes it spans over almost two octaves) and towards the end, diminishing again, returning to the world of semitones.
I wanted to paint a great fresco with the composition. Sometimes, the harmonies are sounding as if they surpassed each other, with the same intensity (forming heavy sound-blocks by it), and sometimes they appear from behind each other. But I also tried to make the change of harmonies (that means also the competition of consonant and non consonant chords, due to the systems!) not only on the basis of algebraic expressions but also in a way that it should captivate the listeners by the natural wavering, solution-ligature of music, as clear musicality, the essential message of music cannot be replaced by any algebraic or other structure!
The musical composition is dedicated to accordion player László Ernyei, who participated in making the recording, and the performance could not have been realized without him."
The composition was one of the proposed works on the Rostrum of Composers 2003 in Vienna.

Accord(ion) concerto op. 18 (2002)

Dedicated to the Erkel Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, for its twenty-fifth Birthday.
First Performance: Óbudai Társaskör (Hungary) - on 28 April 2010.
Erkel Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the composer.

Itinerant Spaces op. 30 (2010)

Accumulator-Salade op. 58 (2018)
for clarinet and electroacoustic
This word, Accumulator-Salade don’t exist. The title hides a strange musical world with humor, joke, African rhythms, a stage performance. To perform the Accumulator-Salade the clarinet player have to know the most newest clarinet players' mode of our age. 
For the performance is recommended a very characterful clarinet player.
To use the electroacoustics is easy: the sound of clarinet player have to place in the acoustic space of the electroacoustic audio material (played by CD player or Laptop etc.) and two good quality speakers are required.
Premiere: Budapest, Fészek Artits’ Club, 5 December 2018 (Csaba Klenyán - clarinet)
Dedication: Csaba Klenyán
The electoracustic audio material (stereo) is available: hangvarazsbt@gmail.com
Duration: 12 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 67 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)

Accumulator-Salade op. 58

Dissoluzioni (Transitions) op. 19 (2003)
- for accordion trio
This is the composer’s second piece which uses an accordion. The first is the Accord(ion) concerto (for accordion and orchestra - proposed work of the Rostrum of Composers in Vienna in 2003). 
The Dissoluzioni is a single-movement composition, in which the main focus lies on the continuous, interwoven transformation of chords and rhythmic patterns.
The work is dedicated to Trio Solotarev.
Premiere: Rome, October 2003 – Nuovi Spazi Musicali Contemporary Music Festival (Trio Solotarev)
Hungarian premiere: Budapest, Nest Artists' Club, 26.11.2003 (Melinda Mészáros, László Ernyei, Gábor Németh)
A recording of the piece was made by the Sirius Trio and released in December 2024 by Da Vinci Classics: https://davinci-edition.com/product/c00961/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3zCJVju7WZ6CR6SkRYI391
Duration: 8 minutes
Publisher: Hangvarázs Bt. - No. 19 (hangvarazsbt@gmail.com)


Dissoluzioni op. 19 (2003)

Hungarian composer, publisher, concert organiser and radio editor, presenter (Bartók Channel).

Gyula Bánkövi

Popular tracks