Special Section on Svyatoslav Richter

The great Russian pianist, Svyatoslav Richter, was a frequent visitor to Hungary, performing here regularly between 1954 and 1993. This section includes personal memories on one of our century's great performing artists and a complete list of his concerts and recitals in Hungary.
Bruno Monsaingeon recently completed an acclaimed documentary, Richter l'Insoumis, on this most reclusive of musicians. In an interview with Márta Papp of Magyar Rádio, the Canadian film-maker describes the difficulties in seeing his project through from conception to completion. The key to Richter's change of heart over the project, reveals Monsaingeon, was his viewing of the film-maker's documentaries on Oistrakh Fischer-Dieskau —and the director's appending of a quotation from Proust to his outline of the project.
In 1975, János Pilinszky, the great Hungarian poet, was present at the festival Richter established near Tours in France. We reprint his exhilarated report on these "musical conversations".

An incident referred to in the Bruno Monsaingeon interview is fondly recalled by Zoltán Kocsis, the pianist and conductor, in his short memoir, "An Escapade".

Another pianist, Dezső Ránki, in another Márta Papp interview, "Performances and Recordings", points out that "We all grew up on Richter". He discusses various features of Richter's recordings, his repertoire and the release of recordings which Richter had not approved.

János Rolla, leader of the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, describes the experience of playing with Richter in 1991, in the final Márta Papp interview, "The Orchestral Rehearsals".

The section closes with full details of the fifty-one concerts and recitals Richter gave in Hungary.

Kádár and the Polish Crisis 1980-81
by János Tischler

János Tischler, a historian who specializes in Polish-Hungarian relations, sets the domestic context in which János Kádár's government was forced to respond to the developing Polish crisis. Kádár argued with Brezhnev on how to handle the situation from the outset, maintaining a consistant line throughout. The crisis made life both easier and more difficult for the Hungarian leadership. To counter the latter, Kádár mounted a campaign against Solidarity. The Polish leadership respected Kádár and sought his advice. Kádár was consistent in his line and spoke out against the hardliners at the 198O Warsaw Pact summit in Moscow, called to discuss the Polish problem. Tischler argues that in all this Kádár was drawing parallels between the Hungary of 1956 and the Poland of 198O. His views hardened after Solidarity's first congress and the "Message" it published. He thus greeted with relief the imposition of martial law by the new Polish leader, General Jaruselski, which bought the system another eight years.

On Raoul Wallenberg
by György Konrád

The novelist here writes on one of the least known heroes of our century. Describing the situation in July 1944, when Wallenberg arrived to take up his post in the Swedish legation in Budapest, György Konrád explores the complex character of someone who once said that he'd drink with the devil himself if necessary, a man who also constantly proclaimed his own cowardice. Weaving all this with his own childhood memories of the Arrow-Cross terror, he provides us with a portrait of this unlikely hero, now fully and openly acknowledged by the country in which he saved so many lives.

Fortress Budapest
by Péter Gosztonyi

The Swiss-based historian reviews the first full length work on the Siege of Budapest to be published in Hungarian for almost twenty-five years. Little known in the West, the 51-day siege saw some of the most savage fighting of the Second World War, with enormous casualties, not least among a civilian population trapped within the perimeter. The review article traces the domestic political background which led eventually to an Arrow Cross government being formed, with the consent of Regent Horthy, whose younger son was taken hostage by the Germans. Drawing on personal interviews with German commanders, Gosztonyi underlines Budapest's strategic importance in Hitler's eyes. He adds a thoughtful commentary on Krisztián Ungváry's organization of his material, much of it new, into four parts. Finally he addresses the question glossed over by earlier, Marxist, writings: did the Red Army conquer or liberate Budapest?

The Chronicler of the Holocaust
by Ágnes Heller

In her review article, the philosopher Ágnes Heller reflects on Randolph L. Braham's much praised book, The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, which has just been republished in Hungarian translation. She emphasizes the book's focus on what happened within the borders of Hungary, praising the self-restraint in the explanation of the inexplicable. The link to German genocide politics is discussed. Braham's rejection of a "conspiracy of silence" and its implications is explored.

The Impact of the United States on Hungary's Age of Reform
by Gábor Vermes

Around 1820 many Hungarians began to awake to their country's urgent need of social reform, acknowledging its backwardness in comparison to the modernizing West. The early Hungarian reformers found a source of inspiration in America as the land of realized ideals. However, knowledge of this remote land remained vague in Hungary until the publication of Sándor Bölöni Farkas's Travel in North America in 1834, which inflamed nation-wide enthusiasm for America and what it symbolized, and even led to some actual social reforms. Gábor Vermes, who teaches history at Rutgers University, gives us keen observations on the whole spectrum of political opinions at the time, from radical liberal to moderate and conservative views, without failing to point out the naivety of the public's idealism and the validity of some criticisms. America was very much on the minds of the Hungarian revolutionaries in 1848 and again in 1956. On the other hand, American relations with Hungary remained more or less symbolic until the end of the Cold War era, after which American investments have played a major role in Hungary's process of modernization.

.hu: Hungary on the Net
by Ferenc Gerlóczy

Ferencz Gerlóczy here reviews Hungary's place on the Infromation Highway. He sees the problems as largely stemmming from high telephone and provider charges. The earlier optimism about the future of the Net has somewhat abated, given the comparatively low numbers of those who have access. The history of online magazines specifically Hungarian in content is briefly sketched, including MEK, an ambitious project which aims to be the Hungarian digital library. Search engines are also described. One spin-off already noted is the surge in "virtual" English, a feature already noted in Scandinavia, which is increasingly drawing the attention of those involved in cybernetics.

Budapest Music Centre Online
by Szilárd Béla Jávorszky

A description of the centre established by the remarkable László Göőz, musician, teacher and organizer. Two years ago it set out to create a database to cover contemporary Hungarian composers and performers. (www.bmc.hu) The database is value free, simply providing a complete view of the work of those contained on it, and is expanding rapidly. Finally, the BMC is to bring out a new series of CD's covering contemporary Hungarian music for the 1999 Frankfurt Book Fair, where Hungary will be the focus country.

What Makes Us Want to Live - Slow Freight
by Sándor Tar

Elsewhere in this issue Sándor Tar's latest collection is reviewed. Here we publish two of his stories for the first time in English.

Bad-Tempered Boom
by László Csaba

Senior economist at Kopint-Datorg, one of the country's leading think-tanks, Professor Csaba here reviews the decade during which the country switched from a socialist to a market economy. He first describes the three comprehensive packages through which the entire economic system was reformed, labelling them as shock therapies. However, the main elements in economic policy display long-term vision. There are features of transformational policies which are specifically Hungarian. In terms of economic performance, he highlights the enormous improvement in the national debt and current account deficit over this period. He again argues here that the benefits of EU membership will not lie in direct transfers from Brussels but in "institutionalizing" the closing of the gap the economy still has to undertake. Some weak points are summarized. Professor Csaba concludes with a description of the mid-term outlook, stressing that the new government is continuing the economic policies of its predecessor.