Gabor Varga - Gold Rings Of The Wounded Stone (2022) Hi-Res

Gold Rings Of The Wounded Stone by Gabor Varga is the eighth DSD album release from Hunnia Records. It was recorded Live to Stereo DSD 256 at SuperSize Studios in Hungary on July 10, 2021 and features 27 tracks of music in DSD from this popular Jazz pianist playing the Bogányi B-292 Grand Piano.

Gabor Varga tells us “Gold Rings Of The Wounded Stone is an entirely improvised solo album. Every single track is an impression of the given moment. It does not contain any composed pieces. Of course, this latter statement is hard to believe for some, as some of the pieces have a strikingly well-developed structure. I do not know if it sounds disillusioning or comforting when I tell you that I could never manage to play the same music again.

The order of the tracks is the same as the order in which we recorded them. Whether I succeeded in understanding or feeling the message of time, I do not know, but the first piece we recorded is also the opening track of the album, and it is titled Song for My Mother—and that answers many questions. When I hit these notes on the piano, it had been only 2 months after my mother passed away. I felt after only a few moments that time and the totality of the fates living in me found a way of expression through my hearing and my hands, pouring meaning and feeling into the next hour and a half. I fell into a spherical state, and I only left the studio for a few minutes one time during the whole recording.

The length of the album is the same as the time spent recording it. What was it? Improvisation? Composition? Or a mixture of the two? I do not know. But one thing is certain. What you are listening to now, is me. Perhaps that is what Kodály was talking about. I do not know that either.

I am only sure of one thing—that what I wanted to say, you are listening to now. And if your heart and ears are at the right place, you will understand what time, hope, sadness, joy, Hungary, Budapest and so many more things mean to me. And wherever in the world you listen to this music, you can experience the most fantastic thing about music—that it does not matter where we were born and what fate we carry, our ears and hearts hear and feel the same. Thank you for your attention!”

Gábor Varga – Piano