Crossing over

Slick and savvy, Edvin Marton. Courtesy photo.

The many beats of violinist Edvin Marton, from classical to crossover

(Budapest) « I am a 21st century virtuoso, feeling the pulse of our times, » says Edvin Marton, who, in his twenties had already performed in many leading classical music venues around the world. Of Hungarian origin and born into a musical family, Marton could already be seen with a bow in his hands by the age of 3. « When I was born, my fate was pegged: in no uncertain terms, I would become a musician, » remembers Marton, formerly known by friends and neighbors as Lajos Csury.

He was born in an area of Ukraine largely inhabited by ethnic Hungarians, and he showed his precocious nature in music school at a young age, completing seven years of curricula in just three. By age 7, he was already playing Mozart violin concertos.

« At one point I literally sat on my violin, I was so fed up of practicing many hours each day, my poor father had to travel to the next village to buy me a new instrument, » remembers the now 30-year-old violinist, « The result of the incident was a three-day hiatus from practicing. »

Today he takes better care of his violin, playing a USD 3 million instrument made by famed violin craftsman Antonio Stradivari, and is protected by personal bodyguards. From a poor village boy, the young violinist traveled the world and studied in numerous countries.

Tchaikovsky Central Music School
The young Csury studied in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Central Music School, where « even getting in was a career-making move. » This was an institution where famed violinists studied. The hallowed halls of tye Tchaikovsky was also where noted cellist and conductor Yuli Turovsky studies, before emigrating to Canada some 25 years ago from Moscow. It was Turovsky who ended up crossing paths with the violinist then known as Lajos Csury. The young violinist took part in an international festival at the Orford Arts Center outside Montreal, then under Turovsky’s artistic direction. He took first prize and recorded a CD with Turovsky’s chamber orchestra « I Musici de Montreal. »

« Lajos Csury had a very impressive technique and a beautiful sweet sound, but there was something very special in his playing reminding me of some older masters of the first half of the 20th century, » commented Turovsky, « There was nothing American in his playing, and yet there was almost nothing Russian either, although he studied in Moscow and New York for a number of years. »

Marton sees the logic in his training through its diversity. « The reason why it’s hard to trace is because in each of the schools that I studied, I learned a very different aspects of playing and performing. In Russia it was the disciplined technique and the tough education system.

In Budapest and Vienna, it was the Europeanization of the sound, which lightened my playing somewhat. And in New York, I could perfect my performing technique, stage presence and the elements of a « show » that eventually allowed me to develop my own style, » he explained.

Franz Liszt Music Academy
While professionally Moscow may have given him more rigorous training, Marton’s heart remained in Budapest. He returned to study at the Franz Liszt Music Academy, meeting the daughter of world-renowned Hungarian composer, Sándor Szokolay. He married Orsolya Szokolay, also a violinist, after six years of the couple recording CDs together, organizing and performing concerts as a dynamic creative team. « Our marriage was short, it lasted the whole of a week, » Marton remembers, recalling what was a difficult period in his life.

His search for a style of music of his own brought him far and wide, meanwhile. His studies in New York at the Juliard School of Music brought professional contacts which meant changes in his musical style. Here, in one of the most revered classical music environments of Juliard, he mingled with DJ’s and jumped from high level classical to what is referred today as crossover.

Still in his 20s, Marton had traveled to more than 30 countries, and played in such renowned concert halls as the Berliner Philharmonie and Vienna’s Koncerthaus. But he was looking for a change.

« As a classical performer, I played in some of Europe’s most important venues, » recalls Marton, « at the same time it was not my life-long ambition to perform in them yet another 20 times. I just wanted to go further, always dreaming of developing my own show that would be relevant to our times. »

In the process of developing this very style, one of the first « shows » he created consisted of him performing, naturally as a soloist and conductor, with some 20 beautiful model-like violinists in his own chamber orchestra, called « Pearls of Classics.”

« Lajos Csury had a very impressive technique and a beautiful sweet sound, » says Yuli Turovsky

« After he graduated from the music academy the talented, jovial and rotund Lajos disappeared, only to return as a slim, easy listening, music playing Edvin Marton, » explains a former classmate, « We don’t really understand why he changed, since wherever he went, he was loved and appreciated. »

According to Turovsky, Csury could not be constrained by the rigid and low-key lifestyle of classical music, since he was more keen on adventure and excitement, and changed his musical direction.

« He called me several times over the years from very exotic countries and described some quite fantastic plans he was working on, » said Turovsky, who remembered calls from Csury from several Middle Eastern adventures. « He possessed a vivid imagination, and whether all of the adventures that he later talked about were real or imaginary I cannot be absolutely sure, but he was genuinely so excited talking about them that it would even make me at times worried for him. »

Marton says that every composer or performer tries to work within the context of their own times, and not just perform the works of others. Straus played Bach, while Mozart developed different themes in his very own style and even composed his own works, he argues.

« I was always more interested in playing my own music, and this doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t play Mozart or Vivaldi, it’s just that today it is more exciting to perform these works with electronic sounds, since we live in the 21st century. If Mozart would be alive today, certainly he would also play this kind of music, » he added.

It was not easy to label these new and modern sounds. One reason is that the most important venue for broadcast contemporary music is radio, and today the most popular instrumental sounds is so-called « trance » or « techno. » Marton’s music is a long-term investment, and harder to introduce to a larger public. Few Hungarian labels are developing in this direction.

But Germany’s BMG label took the risk in 2001 and released the music of his new group, Strings ‘n’ beats, and launched it in numerous countries including Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Hungary. It is no coincidence that the album was first released abroad, says Marton’s manager, György Zentai, since it is practically impossible to distribute Europe-wide from Hungary.

A classical or a popular musician?
Public reception of his CD in Hungary was mixed. While during his studies, a close-knit community of classical music circles followed Marton’s work, he was hardly known to the wider public, because he left the profession very early in his career. As to the popular music of Marton, he is only now becoming known to audiences.

The director of BMG Hungary, Margit Geszti, says Marton’s reputation and following is growing, a fact that can be seen through his record sales. Sales are far greater, she says, than those of other similar-styled CD’s, with Strings ‘n’ beats soon to go gold, signifying the sale of some 15,000 records.

While Marton’s the technique and classical music past are recognized and widely appreciated, many have more trouble with his nature and temperament. As the critics would say, during his days in the academy, he lived in a world enchanted by himself. The violin virtuoso certainly did not bathe in humility, and he refers to himself in the category of the « worlds best violinists, » who simply, « has no competition in Hungary. » While his success may be impressive in terms of sales, it seems Marton will find his place in the popular genre, leaving behind a successful classical music career. While the world’s No. 1 virtuoso may be an exaggeration, he may have a very bright future.