The violinist György Pauk has died.

Pauk, who lost both his parents in the Holocaust, was haunted by memories of lean times, marked by hunger, cold, and fear, living with his grandmother in the Budapest ghetto. For many years after, he always traveled with emergency food.

Early promise on the violin earned him admission to the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of 9. There, Zoltán Kodály was among his teachers. In 1956, at the age of 22, he defected from his Soviet-controlled homeland. It was Yehudi Menuhin who encouraged him to settle in the U.K, which he did three years later. Pauk became a British citizen in 1967.

An important interpreter of contemporary music, he gave first performances of works by Witold Lutoslawski, Peter Maxwell Davies, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, and Michael Tippett. He was also a master interpreter of the music of Béla Bartók.

With pianist Peter Frankl, he recorded the complete violin sonatas of Mozart. Pauk and Frankl had played together since they were children, studying chamber music in Hungary with Leo Weiner. In maturity, they frequently performed trios with cellist Ralph Kirschbaum.

Pauk returned to Budapest for the first time, at the invitation of Annie Fischer, to perform in 1973.

In 1987, he was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He was a renowned teacher, regarded as the foremost living exemplar of the Hungarian violin school, with a direct connection to Joseph Joachim, one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century. Joachim, also born in Hungary, collaborated with Johannes Brahms and his circle. (He gave the first performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in 1879, with the composer conducting.)

Pauk was still teaching as recently as two weeks ago. Reportedly, he took a fall within the past ten days. He died yesterday, in Budapest, at the age of 88.

His instrument was a 1714 Stradivarius, previously owned by the Belgian violinist Lambert Massart. His autobiography, “A Life in Music,” was published in 2021.

R.I.P.

A literal masterclass in how to play Bartók

From a recording of Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2

Brahms’ Violin Concerto from 1959

Pauk talks about his life, with musical interludes