“One must defend the Hungarian Rhapsodies on two fronts: First against musicians of the ‘serious’ brand who look down on them as showpieces, and secondly, against the piano maniacs who abuse them as showpieces.” By these words, great pianist Alfred Brendel characterizes the Hungarian Rhapsodies, S244, by Franz Liszt, which have now been recorded for Gramola by the young Bulgarian pianist Martin Ivanov. The thin line between overwhelming virtuosity on one hand and poetic finesse on the other seems to be tailor-made for Ivanov, who already showed great success with his recordings of Chopin, Schumann and lately with his recording of Liszt’s Sonata in B minor.

Martin Ivanov was born in 1990 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria into a family of musicians and started to study piano at the age of just four. His first teacher was his mother, who worked with him until 2009, the year in which he completed his studies at the “Vesselin Stoyanov” music school in Ruse, Bulgaria. In the period between 2001 and 2009 he took part in 50 piano competitions in Bulgaria and abroad, always with great success.

In 2009 Martin Ivanov studied with Professor Oleg Maisenberg and from 2013 with Professor Stefan Vladar at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. This institution made it possible for Ivanov to work together with other famous personalities such as Boris Bloch and Michel Béroff.

In 2010 Ivanov gave a most successful debut performance in the Salle Gaveau in Paris and was invited to perform there again. At the end of 2011 he played in the Great Hall of Slovak Radio, where his interpretation of Stravinsky’s Petrushka was particularly highly acclaimed. In 2016 Martin Ivanov made his debut with the radio broadcaster France Musique.