Jeney, Zoltán

Jeney, Zoltán, Hungarian composer; b. Szolnok, March 4, 1943. He was a student of Pongrâcz in Debrecen, Farkas at the Budapest Academy of Music (1961–66), and Petrassi at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1967–68). In 1970 he helped to organize the Budapest New Music Studio, where he was active as a composer, keyboard player, and percussionist. In 1986 he joined the faculty of the Academy of Music. In 1988-89 he was in Berlin under the sponsorship of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. Among his honors are the Erkel Prize (1982) and the Bartók-Pâsztory Award (1988).

Works

orchLaude (1967–77); Rimembranze (1968); Alef—Hommage à Schoenberg (1971–72); Quemadmodum for Strings (1975); Something Round for 25 Strings (1975); Sostenuto (1979); Something Like for 25 Strings (1980). CHAMBER: Soliloquium No. 1 for Flute (1967) and No. 2 for Violin (1974–78); Wei wu wei for Chamber Ensemble (1968); Round for Piano, Harp, and Harpsichord (1972); Movements of the Eye IV for 1 or 3 Chamber Ensembles (1973); 4 Quartet for 1 or More String Quartets (1973); Orpheus’s Garden for 8 Instruments (1974); A Leaf Falls—Brackets to e.e. cummings for Violin or Viola, Contact Microphone, and Prepared Piano (1975); Tropi for 2 Trumpets (1975); Arthur Rimbaud in the Desert for Optional Keyboard Instruments (1976); Complements for Cimbalom (1976); 2 Mushrooms for Chamber Ensemble (1977); Impho 102/6 for 6 Antique Cymbals (1978); Pontpoint for 6 Percussionists (1978); Being-Time I (1979), II (1979), V (1985), VI (1985), and IV (1991) for 4 Optional Players; Interlude with Sounds for 1 Player (1979); The End of a Game for 6 Instruments (1980); Arupa for 6 to 8 Chimes and Drum (1981); Something Found for Piano, Harmonium or Organ, and Optional Chamber Ensemble (1981); Etwas getragen for String Quartet (1988); Ouverture Étrusque for Oboe, Synthesizer or Tape, and Antique Cymbals (1989); Self-Quotations for 5 Instruments (1991); Fungi-Epitaphium John Cage for Alto Flute (1992). keyboard: piano:5 Pieces (1962); Soliloquium No. 3 (1980); Endgame (1973); Movements of the Eye I (1973), II for 2 Pianos (1973), and III for 3 Pianos (1973); Desert Plants for 2 Prepared or Unprepared Pianos or 2 Pianos and Tape (1975); Something Lost for Prepared Piano (1975); Transcriptions Automatiques (1975); Kalah (1983); Meditazione su una tema di Goffredo Petrassi (1984); Ricercare (1992); A Mounderin Tongue in a Pounderin Jowl (1993). organ:Soliloquium No. 4 (1980); OM for 2 Electric Organs or Electric Organ and Tape (1979); Ricercare in variazioni sopra il motto dal Rito Funebre (1988). VOCAL: Omaggio for Soprano and Orch. (1966); 12 Songs for Soprano, Violin, and Piano (1975–83); Monody (in memoriam Igor Stravinsky) for Soprano and Piano (1977); To Apollon, cantata for Chamber Chorus, English Horn, Organ, and 12 Antique Cymbals (1978); The Eternal Corridor for Chorus and Optional Chamber Ensemble (1983);Spaziosa calma…for Woman’s Voice and Chamber Ensemble (1984; rev. 1987); El Silencio for Woman’s Voice and String Quartet (1986); Movements from the Funeral Rite for Soloists, Chorus, and Chamber Orch. (1987); Psalmus 5 for Woman’s Voice and Chamber Ensemble (1989), 102 for Chorus and 5 Instruments (1989), and 50 for Woman’s Voice and String Quartet (1991); Funeral Rite for Soloists, Chorus, and Orch. (1994). OTHER: Electronic, live electronic, and tape pieces; film music; collaborative scores.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire