Géza Frid (1892:1963)
Hungaroton HCD 32660
Budapest - Amsterdam - Chamber Music
Premiers enregistrements
(P) 2009
Martin Tchiba : piano / zongora
Birthe Blom : violin / hegedű
Ditta Rohmann : cello / gordonka

• Pódium-Szvit hegedűre és zongorára (Podium-Suite pour violon et piano) op.3
  Il primo - Capriccio - Rubato con sordino - Intermezzo - L’ultimo
• 12 zenei karikatúra op.8 (12 Musical Caricatures for piano)
  Exercice de doigts - Canon - Etude aux secondes mineures - Dancing - Répétons un peu - Monotone - L’accompagnement - Le papillon - Nocturne à la Chopin - La marche des soldats - Glissando - Petite rhapsodie hongroise
• Szonáta 5 darabban gordonkára és zongorára (Sonata in 5 Pieces for cello and piano) op.9
  Prélude - Tarentelle - Prière - Choral - Finale
• Trió zongorára, hegedûre és gordonkára (Trio for Piano, violin and cello) op.27

Géza Frid, Dutch composer and pianist of Hungarian birth was a student of Béla Bartók (piano) and Zoltán Kodály (composition) in Budapest. He often played piano duets with Bartók, and worked as his assistant and lector. Frid soon made his mark in the major European concert halls as a pianist, too. Violinist Zoltán Székely, his partner, encouraged him to move to The Netherlands. Frid lived and worked in Amsterdam since 1929. The first piece on the CD was composed in 1928 in Budapest, the two following ones in the thirties while Frid was staying in France. In 1937, Géza Frid married the Dutch singer and pianist Ella van Hall.
As an international artist in great demand and a family man (his son Arthur was born in 1939), though officially a stateless person, during the war years he was under constant threat because of his Jewish origin. Under the German occupation of The Netherlands, Frid organized a series of clandestine house concerts as a form of protest. He was also active as a forger of coupons and identity documents and took part in the artists' resistance movement.
The last piece on the CD was composed in Amsterdam in 1947, and it documents a new start in the composer’s career. Géza Frid became a naturalized Dutch citizen in 1948 in The Netherlands. Highly regarded worldwide, he soon became a key figure of the musical life of The Netherlands in the post-war era. Géza Frid represented a bridge linking the cultural heritage of Hungary and the Netherlands.