Triple Concerto (2015)

The Triple Concerto for Cimbalom, Harp and Guitar was written for a commission from Musiciens Libres, a Hungarian chamber ensemble lead by guitarist Miklós Környei. This three- movement piece with unusual instrumentation starts with genuine “genesis music”, as if we were present just after the Big Bang, with the world still amorphous but full of energy (the chords might remind the listener of Ligeti, who is just as important a point of reference for Karosi as are Bach, Messiaen, or Boulez). At the beginning of the movement the soloists do not yet have personality, but their musical material gradually reveals itself, and finally after a monologue on the harp, the three instruments play together. The second, slow movement is symmetric in structure. The atonal music of the introduction and coda, with quarter- tones, flanks monologues by the three soloists which are particularly exotic in colour, and the music is staggeringly beautiful in the most traditional sense of the word. The closing movement, in line with the traditions of the concerto, is a breezy Finale: if the opening movement is about tone colour, the central movement about melody, then the closing movement is clearly about rhythm.

Gergely Fazekas (Existentia CD Booklet, Hungaroton, 2019)