<<  -- 5 --  Bill Newman    AFTER ANTAL DORÁTI

'The "fatal" meeting took place in the valley called Valais. The place of the concerts was Sion, at the Festival of Tibor Varga who had invited Toni together with the Philharmonia Hungarica. Toni called one day and asked "Do you want to come to one of the concerts?", and I told him that Veress was in Italy as a Jury member of a Choir Competition. "But why do you not come along?" And the funny thing was, I suddenly felt, something inevitable would happen. It was the turn around, when we became something more than just friends. It was August of 1968. And I never regretted it. I had the most wonderful twenty years with Toni, and I don't think that many people can say that of their own partnerships. As I was twenty one years younger than him, I would have expected to be alone, one day.'

Making music together

There is this same alchemy when you made music together. I hear it in the Haydn Concerti -- the rhythmic impulse and propulsive surge of string tone, the perfect balance between piano and orchestra. 'I always preferred making music with him than with other conductors. I didn't have to explain what I wanted here, what I wished to do there! This was the enormous difference. We played a lot together, and he gave special care to the accompaniment of soloists, which is very rare. Not all conductors feel that way.'

You had to subjugate your musical egos by merging your tones and ideas together without too much argument, and a certain amount of preparation beforehand. 'We both had the highest criticisms, and were very critical of each other. Very fruitful.' Were there any outbursts of any kind? 'From his side -- I only experienced it just once. He wrote a Piano Concerto for me which I premièred with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC. Not only that, but I made an LP about a week after the concert. Three hours for a work which lasted thirty-two minutes. There was a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, who commissioned the recording with the stipulation that it should not take one second longer than the granted three hours recording time! So, there we were. I was well prepared, but as it was a difficult work and I was performing it for the first time, I had a memory lapse. Literally, learning the piece by heart, there was no chance to look at the music stand instead of the keyboard!'

'So, I stopped and said: "I lost myself!". To which he replied: "And you'd better find yourself again." This was the first occasion, ever, and the last time I experienced it. It was not really an outburst, but just spontaneous. We finished it, and when I listen to the record now, I don't know how!'

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