Iris Szeghy

"Szeghy’s work hitherto as a whole is remarkable for the quantity of compositional techniques assimilated. Two principal motifs are represented there: the tradition of European music of the last three centuries, and the avantgarde tendencies of the last fifty years, directed against that tradition. Inevitably, tension arises between these interests when they meet. Szeghy, however, does not elevate this inner conflict to the status of a central style-forming element. Her treatment of divergent material does not lead the listener to an awareness of 'shocking' contradictions; rather, her entire work is subordinated to a basic procedure: the 'new' is integrated into the 'old', and vice versa. In this synthetic process she places a distinct emphasis on defamiliarisation of the musical statement. She strives for this on the one hand by direct confrontation of the established 'traditional' texture with the ephemeral sonorousness of contemporary techniques of note-forming (including electro-acoustic music), while at other times she chooses immersion in a pre-selected form (e.g. ciaccona), seeking an interpenetration of objective and subjective elements in the space demarcated by this form. Other important motivating sources for Szeghy are the values coming from visual art (Hommage à Rodin), literature (Afforismi), and archaic folklore (Midsummer Night’s Mystery)."

(ZAGAR, Peter: Iris Szeghy. In: A Hundred Slovak Composers. Eds. Marián Jurík, Peter Zagar. Bratislava : National Music Centre Slovakia, 1998, p. 274.)