26. April 2019

Noemi Collings

The Vaba Lava concert hall was almost full this Wednesday evening, but the stage was empty except for a guitar and a double bass, waiting to be played. Shortly after 9pm the instruments were joined by their owners Attila Sidoo (guitar) and József Horvàth (double bass) – and when Félix Lajkó entered the stage with his violin, the trio was complete.

Whoever heard the first sounds of this concert knows: Félix Lajkó’s violin is not only an instrument. There seems to be a deep, intimate and emotional bond of friendship between the two, because there is no other way to explain the liveliness, spark and emotion of the music that played through Vaba Lava that evening. Each piece experienced an extent of feeling, dynamics and climaxes and was accompanied by Felix’s sweeping movements.

What began as a dramatic, almost Beethoven-sounding violin solo developed into an absolutely versatile piece that evoked associations with South America, Spain or France and combined multitude genres.

The following pieces were all similar and yet so unique – their style was difficult to define. Felix’s breath-taking dexterity and impressive technique made the audience sit totally buzzed and amazed – with mouths open – in their seats and acknowledged the performers with loud cheers.

Each piece contained such incredibly fast runs on the violin that it was hard for the spectator to differentiate between Félix’ fingers. His playing showed so much emotion and musicality and was seemingly sent into ecstasy.

The guitarist and the bassist played with full commitment, although they mainly kept to the background setting rhythmic and harmonic accents with their instruments to accompany the breath-taking solos of Félix Lajkó. Their occasional interludes of improvisation also showed pure musicality and caused enthusiastic applause from the audience.

The grandiose Félix Lajkó Trio finally bid farewell to an enthusiastic crowd of people who gave a standing ovation. They left the stage just as wordlessly as they had arrived and let the music speak for itself on this concert evening.

FÉLIX LAJKÓ TRIO (Hungary)

Wednesday 24 April 21:00 at Vaba Lava

Félix Lajkó – violin

Attila Sidoo – guitar

József Horvàth – double bass

Check out photos of the concert here