Schubert ‎– Wanderer Fantasie, Klavierstück In E♭, Piano Sonata In G - Dezső Ránki / Hungaroton LP Stereo-Mono

SLPX 11664

Dezső Ránki (born 8 September 1951) is a Hungarian virtuoso concert pianist with a broad repertoire and a significant discography of solo, duo and concerto works.

Born in Budapest, he began taking piano lessons at the Budapest Academy of Music at the age of eight. When he was thirteen, he enrolled at the Budapest Conservatory and from 1964 to 1969 was a pupil of Klára Máthé. Subsequently he studied from 1969 to 1973 at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, with his mentors Pál Kadosa and Ferenc Rados. Among his classmates were renowned pianists András Schiff and Zoltán Kocsis. With Kocsis he featured in two Hungarian documentaries, on the Budapest Symphony Orchestra tour of the USA 'Tizenhatezer Kilometer... A MRT Szimfonikus Zenekara Amerikaban' (1971), and 'Kocsis Zoltán es Ránki Dezső – Kettős Arckép' (1976) 'Kocsis Zoltán and Ránki Dezső – Double Portrait'.

From the time Ránki won first prize at the International Schumann Competition in Zwickau, he has had an international career performing in Europe, Scandinavia, the Soviet Union, the USA and Japan. His repertoire ranges from the Classical period (Mozart, Beethoven), through the Romantics (Schumann, Brahms) to contemporary works (Kurtag). He gave the premiere of the piano concerto (1984) of Zsolt Durkó.

He has played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Orchestre National de France under such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Sándor Végh, Lorin Maazel, and Zubin Mehta. He was awarded twice the Kossuth Prize, the highest cultural award in Hungary.

From 1985, Ránki frequently performs duet recitals with his wife Edit Klukon. Together they have a son, Fülöp Ránki, who is also a skilled pianist. He has been a professor at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest.