Bla Kovcs

Tatabnya, 1 May 1937

Bla Kovcs was Gyrgy Balassa's pupil at the Music Academy between 1951 and
1956. On gaining his diploma, he joined the Opera House orchestra and was its solo
clarinettist till 1981. As a founding member of the Hungarian Wind Quintet (Magyar
Fvsts), he worked from 1962 for a decade with Attila Lajos, Pter Pongrcz,
Tibor Flemile and Ferenc Tarjni. As a member of the Budapest Chamber Ensemble
from 1967 onwards, he participated in the premieres of a number of new Hungarian
compositions. In 1975 he became a professor at the Music Academy (he is now an
Emeritus Professor). In 1989 he was appointed professor of clarinet at the Graz
Universitat fr Musik. His pedagogical activities inspired him to publish textbooks
facilitating the in-depth study of the instrument: Everyday Scale Exercises for
Clarinet (1979), I Learn the Clarinet I-II (1983), Hommage for Clarinet (1994). He has
also made many recordings.
Among his virtues as a performer those most emphasised are his almost perfect
technique, superior sense of style and receptivity to musical humour. The critic of
Muzsika wrote the following in connection with one of his concerts in 1982: "It is a
great gain for our musical life that we can enjoy the wonderfully flexible, in all
registers equally beautiful, thousand-coloured clarinet sound of Bla Kovcs, this
excellent musician, whose way of performing is sensitive to every tiny shade and is
in every element musical." In 1967 he was awarded the Liszt Prize for his work as a
performer, in 1972 he became Meritorious Artist, in 1978 Outstanding Artist, and in
1988 received the Kossuth Prize.
Bla Kovcs has a thorough knowledge of the history of the instrument and of the
connected repertoire. Owing to Andrs Pernye, he got to know, for example, the
original version of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, which beyond the desire to play it
as originally intended also inspired him to gain a more profound knowledge of the
style. Judit Pteri wrote the following about a performance of this work (with the
Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra): "() in his person Hungarian musical life has a
clarinettist like, say, Mikls Pernyi among the cellists. One could travel the world
without finding one like him. He played this great work once again who knows
after how many previous times, and once again differently, in a new way with
simplicity and transcendent loftiness () He paid almost ceremonial attention to the
formation of sounds and to the rounded finishes, his pianos, however soft, punched
through the chamber orchestral texture; in his hands every register of the
instrument overcame the terrible acoustics of the hall." He is familiar with the sound
characters of the different styles and periods: tinkling and soft with the Viennese
classics, harder with the Hungarian verbunkos, tones conjuring up colours and
perfumes with Debussy His Princess variations of The Wooden Prince, written for
the clarinet, are a separate world.
His personality as a performer inspired several contemporary composers to write
pieces for the clarinet. The greatest praise, however, was accorded to him for his
Mozart interpretations. The following was written after a concert performance of the
Clarinet Quintet: "As he began the theme of the slow movement of the Mozart work,
as he sounded the folksy second trio of the minuet, or the slow variation of the
finale, in their natural simplicity that was unforgettable."
A.T.