Aspects of Zsolt Durkó's Piano Concerto

Extract

Durkó is no pianist, but you would never know from the way he writes for the piano, with a meticulous feeling for what makes the instrument musical. This much was evident from a glance at the score of his Concerto when it arrived (‘on approval’, as they say) on my piano last summer. So, too, was the depth of character and nuance in those passages simple enough for me to read at sight - one especially seductive example being a little two-part invention for the soloist, pedantic and wistful, to which a third voice (scored, of all things, for timpani) lends an air of oafish charm.