Songs of innocence

Songs of Innocence is a two-movement cycle for children’s choir and piano, based on poems by William Blake. The work was commissioned by the British Kodály Academy in 2017 and completed in 2019.

Blake’s poems—Spring, Laughing Song and Cradle Song—are imbued with a sense of wonder, warmth and clarity. Rather than elaborating on the texts, the music seeks to reflect their inner light with simplicity and sensitivity. The textures are transparent, the gestures are playful or tender, and the vocal lines aim to support the natural musicality of children’s voices.

This work offers young singers a lyrical, expressive experience rooted in the English poetic tradition, while embracing the Kodály philosophy of musical education through artistry and joy.

  • Movements:

    • I. Spring, Laughing Song – 3 minutes 15 seconds

    • II. Cradle Song – 3 minutes 45 seconds

The sheet music is available for purchase in the webshop.

Old Picture of Mother

Original title: Anyuska regí képe

Chamber cantata for soprano solo , viola, cello and piano, commissioned by opera singer Éva Bátori

Approximately 20 minutes in length

Composer’s Note:

This song cycle consists of seven movements based on poems by Dezső Kosztolányi and by Zsófia’s mother, Judit Tallér. Her mother was a harpist, but she also wrote poetry in her early years. She died in 1994, at the age of 49. Zsófia was also 49 years old when she composed this piece in her memory.

The structure is framed by two poems by Kosztolányi — Anyuska régi képe (Old Picture of Mother) opens the work, while Szegény anyám csak egy dalt zongorázik (My Poor Mother Plays Just One Song on the Piano) concludes it. The five inner movements are based on unpublished poems written by Judit Tallér between the ages of 16 and 22.

Movements:

  1. Anyuska régi képe (Old Picture of Mother) — poem by Dezső Kosztolányi

  2. Szomorúság (Sadness) — poem by Judit Tallér

  3. Maradj, csöndem (Stay, My Silence) — poem by Judit Tallér

  4. Keserűen (Bitterly) — poem by Judit Tallér

  5. Hogy… / Mondóka (How… / A Little Rhyme) — poem by Judit Tallér

  6. Ablakom előtt (Outside My Window) — poem by Judit Tallér

  7. Szegény anyám csak egy dalt zongorázik (My Poor Mother Plays Just One Song on the Piano) — poem by Dezső Kosztolányi

The two Kosztolányi settings are subtle, quiet acts of remembrance. In contrast, the five settings of Judit Tallér’s poems are emotionally intense, confessional character songs:

  • Szomorúság rushes forward in breathless eighth-notes and unstable shifting metres, evoking despair through irregular phrasing and harmonic tension.

  • Maradj, csöndem is cradle-like, with lullaby rhythms and unpredictable melodic fragments. It captures the loneliness of self-consolation — and ends abruptly.

  • Keserűen is a morbid death-dance, with raw harmonic textures and syllabic declamation charged with rage and anguish.

  • Ablakom előtt portrays radical isolation. The vocal line is calm and detached, while the instruments maintain a solemn, sacred stasis — even when the viola recalls earlier material, the singer remains withdrawn.

  • Hogy… / Mondóka expresses the flicker of a tentative love. Playful piano gestures are destabilised by the off-kilter entrances of viola and cello. It is the only moment of lightness in the inner cycle.

  • In the closing song, a dogged, knocking accompaniment supports Kosztolányi’s line: “the poor provincial waltz knocks and knocks.” Though not in triple time, the persistent ostinato is funerary in mood. A brief emotional outburst disrupts the pulse — but it soon returns, carrying the song to a quiet close in a questioning C major.

 

This work is dedicated to the memory of Zsófia’s late mother, Judit Paczolay Tallér, who wrote poetry as a young woman between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. Though encouraged by prominent poets and briefly published under the name Tallér Judit, she never returned to writing. Instead, she devoted her life to teaching piano in rural music schools. A trained harpist, she passed away in 1994 at the age of 49.

Zsófia was the same age when she composed this piece — a quiet act of remembrance, both musical and personal.

Premiere:
10 October 2018, CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival – Mini Festival, Mirror Hall, Festetics Palace, Budapest

Performers:
Éva Bátori (soprano)
Anita Inhof, András Kurgyis (viola)
Zsanett Szatzker (cello)
Katalin Anducska (piano)

O Notte

Chamber cantata for soprano, recorder, clarinet, vibraphone, violin and viola da gamba commissioned by opera singer Júlia Vajda

Italian lyrics by Michalengelo

PARTS:

I. O notte, o dolce tempo…  (2 min 20 sec)
II. …Tu mozzi e tronchi… (2 min 10 sec)
III. … O ombra del morir… (1 min 50 sec)
III. Vivo al peccato… (1 min)
V. .. Serva mie libertá… (1 min 30 sec)

Composer’s Note

This cantata was composed at the request of Júlia Vajda. I slightly modified my original instrumentation to include flute, clarinet, triangle, harp, vibraphone, violin, and cello. I deliberately omitted the double bass to keep the texture in the middle and upper registers, creating a floating, bass-less sound world with a somewhat archaic character.

While selecting the text, I ultimately chose the poetry of Michelangelo. I wanted the focus to be on transience — and to reflect this theme, I sought verse from a bygone era. My plan was to set Renaissance or Baroque poetry in its original language. Shakespeare’s English felt too elusive; with Italian Renaissance and Baroque literature I found no such barrier. I also wished to avoid widely known texts, which led me away from Shakespeare and toward Michelangelo.

In setting the text, I aimed for conciseness and emotional distance. I wanted to avoid melodrama or sentimentality. The instrumental writing is quite motoric, weaving a strict texture around a restrained vocal line. I divided the selected lines from two of Michelangelo’s poems into five movements. The vocal style avoids all romantic or expressive traits, instead evoking the simplicity of the Renaissance — both musically and in performance.

Although the work is scored for modern instruments, its true sonic ideal would include Baroque strings and a recorder alongside the ensemble.

Premiere:
11 June 2021, 7:00 PM
Kortárs Korzó
Korzó Zeneház, Szeged

Sonata ostinata

Viola sonata with piano accompaniment

Duration: 7 min. 45 sec.

Composer’s Note

This four-movement sonata was composed for violist Veronika Botos, who commissioned the piece in 2020. Its title refers to the unifying compositional principle: each movement is built around an ostinato — a repeated musical idea — though each explores a different style and character.

Originally conceived as a three-movement work, the sonata grew into four distinct movements:

  • The first movement is assertive and rhythmic, centred on the pitch E and a short dotted rhythmic cell. The piano’s insistent upward motion contrasts with the viola’s sharp octave gestures, moving both upward and downward. While the ostinato initially drives the form, the viola’s interruptions gradually dissolve its dominance, and by the end, the motive appears only as a distant echo.

  • The second movement is a gentle siciliano, featuring a lyrical viola line supported by a simple, understated piano accompaniment. The texture is spare, the gestures restrained.

  • The third movement draws on folk idioms. With its asymmetrical, off-kilter rhythm and deliberately “mistuned” harmonies, it carries a slightly frivolous, humorous tone.

  • The final movement evokes the energy of Baroque motor rhythms, with flowing sixteenth-note passages. Yet beneath its surface lies a disquieting atmosphere — the movement conjures a sense of dystopia within its perpetual motion.

Premiere:
29 September 2021, 34th Mini Festival, Budapest
Péter Bor (viola), Imre Dani (piano)

Leander and Linseed piano pieces

Original title: Meserészletek zongorára, két és négy kézre

1. Kobold ének (Goblin song) – duration: 30 sec
2. Bogyó keringő (Bogyo’s waltz) – duration: 1 min
3. Lenszirom hiszti ( Linseed’s Tantrum) – duration: 30 sec
4. Csijjegés és csújjogás (Chirping and Whooping) – duration: 20 sec
5. Kerál keserv (King’s lament) – duration: 1 min 10 sec
6. Lenszirom bánat (Linseed’s sorrow) – duration: 1 min 30 sec
7. Kerálné öröm (Queen’s joy) – duration: 1 min 10 sec
8. Bögöl düh (Bögöl’s Fury) – duration: 2 min

Composer’s Note

This set of piano pieces was commissioned by piano teacher Emese Entzné Tőkés of the Weiner Leó Music School and Conservatory. It is based on my children’s opera Leander and Linseed, which premiered at the Hungarian State Opera in April 2015. That season saw seven performances; in 2016 the production returned for eight more, and has since remained in the repertoire. By now, an estimated 25,000 audience members have seen the opera, and many teachers and children have asked for playable excerpts.

Each movement in this piano cycle is an arrangement of a specific aria. However, since the opera is not built from standalone numbers but from continuous musical scenes, I created these piano pieces by drawing on recognisable thematic material, characteristic motifs, and dramatic turns from the original score.

The opera’s frequent use of complex and shifting metres would have posed challenges for young players, so I adapted the rhythmic texture into a simplified, accessible form.

The set contains eight pieces. Seven are suitable for students in their first to fourth years of piano study, while the final movement is a four-hand duet designed for more advanced children.

Trumpet Party

Trumpet quartet

Commissioned by the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra.

duration: approx. 10 minutes

First preformed by:

Tamás Németh
Tibor Stepper,
Imre Kránitz,
Ádám Vörös

on 8th February 2015 at University Concert hall

New Year Greetings

Original title: Évköszöntő

For orchestra and children’s choir, commissioned by the Hungarian State Opera.

duration: approx. 11 min.

ORCHESTRA

Flute
Flute/Piccolo
2Oboe
Clarinet in Sib
Clarinet in Sib/1Bass Clarinet in Sib
2Bassoons
Contrabassoon
4Horns in Fa
2Trumpets in C
3Trombones
Timpani (G, A, B, Bb)
Drums (Bass Drum, Timbale 14″, Glockenspiel, Cymbal, Suspended Cymbal, Triangle,
Tambourine, Tom-toms, Wood block)
Children’s Choir
Strings

Lyrics:

Adjon Isten minden jót
Ez új esztendőben:
Jobb üdőt, mint tavaly volt,
Ez új esztendőben;
Jó tavaszt, őszt, telet, nyárt,
Jó termést és jó vásárt
Ez új esztendőben;

Adjon Isten minden jót
Ez új esztendőben:
Zsíros esőt, kövér hót,
Ez új esztendőben;
Bő aratást, szüretet,
Egészséget, jó kedvet
Ez új esztendőben!

Adjon Isten minden jót
Ez új esztendőben:
Drága jó bort, olcsó sót
Ez új esztendőben;
Jó kenyeret, szalonnát
Tizenkét hónapon át
Ez új esztendőben!

Adjon Isten minden jót
Ez új esztendőben:
Vegye el mind a nem jót,
Ez új esztendőben;
Mitől félünk, mentsen meg,
Amit várunk, legyen meg,
Ez új esztendőben!

Rough translation:

May God grant us all the best
In this new year:
Better wheather than last year
In this new year;
Good spring, automn, winter, summer,
Good harvest and good market
In this new year;

May God grant us all the best
In this new year:
Gross rain, fat snow
In this new year;
Rich harvest, vintage,
Health, good mood
In this new year!

May God grant us all the best
In this new year:
Expencive good wine, cheep salt
In this new year;
Good bread, bacon
For twelve mounthes
In this new year!

May God grant us all the best
In this new year:
Tahe away all the bads
In this new year;
From all that we fear, may God save us,
Let it be what we’re waitng for,
In this new year!

 

Three Piano Pieces

Original title:

Három zongoradarab

I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante tranquillo
III. Vivace

Performance highlights:

Budapest, 1999

Hungarian Acedemy, Rome 2002

„Nuovi Spazi Musicali“ contemporary music festival, Rome 2007

You can also listen to the original recording played by the composer back in 1990 here. The recording is converted and restored form cassette tape.