The double album “Szilárd Mezei – Túl a Tiszán Innen” (WMAS, 2014) stands as one of the most complex and original contemporary interpretations of the Hungarian musical heritage of Vojvodina. Drawing on the extensive field research and collections of ethnomusicologist Anikó Bodor (1941–2010), whose archives comprise thousands of traditional songs, Szilárd Mezei creates an authorial musical world in which authentic melodic patterns unfold through improvisation, orchestral dramaturgy, and a refined contemporary sonic imagination. As Zorica Premate emphasizes in her review, Mezei’s “unrestrained tonal imagination feeds on diverse musical materials from the totality of the sounding world: the aleatoricism of Lutosławski, the mixtures of early Stravinsky, the modes and rhythms of Hungarian folklore, as well as improvised and open jazz forms.” It is precisely within this synthesis that the album’s distinctiveness emerges: tradition is not presented as a static relic, but as a vital foundation for the creation of a new and authentic artistic expression. The eleven-member ensemble operates as a finely balanced collective in which the vocal layer retains its narrative and emotional centrality, while the instrumental parts—often richly colored and chamber-like in texture—develop parallel layers of meaning. Premate notes that Mezei “uses improvisation as an opportunity to play, to combine and intertwine, to create sonic analogies and metaphors,” shaping a recognizable and personal language of timbre and tone. The compositional structures frequently rely on thematic arcs, variation procedures, and a subtle equilibrium between notation and freedom, between ethnomusicological grounding and contemporary authorial intervention. In this sense, “Túl a Tiszán Innen” transcends the framework of ethno-reinterpretation and becomes an artistic dialogue with heritage—deeply rooted in regional identity, yet fully open to the broader discourse of contemporary European music. This release confirms Szilárd Mezei as a composer who understands tradition as a dynamic and creative resource, capable of preserving its authenticity while speaking through a new, layered, and aesthetically compelling musical language.

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