Background
He is the son of Zoltán Gárdonyi. Gárdonyi was born in Budapest, Hungary. In international organ concerts he presents especially works of his father and his own, in addition to the standard organ repertoire.
In a program at the Marktkirche he combined works of his father, the two organ preludes on Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott and Ich weiß, woran ich glaube, and the Partita "Veni Creator Spiritus", with works of his own, the two organ preludes on "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" and "In director ist Freude", three compositions paying homage to composers (Hommage à J South Bach, Hommage à F Liszt, Hommage à M Dupré), his jazzy Mozart Changes and EGATOP, an homage to Erroll Garner, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson.
Education
He studied composition, organ, sacred music and theory.
Career
Aged 24 he became cantor of the Alexanderkirche in Wildeshausen, Germany. Ten years later he was appointed professor for theory of music at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg in Würzburg. His students include Claus Kühnl.
The composer comments on Grand Choeur for organ, recorded by Roland Maria Stangier in the Philharmonie Duisburg:
Organ compositions entitled Grand Choeur such as those by César Franck, Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, Théodore Dubois, Alexandre Guilmant und Eugène Gigout are often conceived as preludes and postludes for worship services and traditionally contain registration directions at the start.
In France, Grand Choeur indicates a composition whose sound is characterized by its high proportion of reed stops. My Grand Choeur is tied to this French organ tradition and was written in 1979 based on one of my worship service improvisations during 1971-1975 at the organ of the Alexanderkirche Wildeshausen.
Gárdonyi"s short organ piece Mozart Changes, composed for the 1995 "Oklahoma MOZART" International Festival in Bartlesville, departs from the theme of the finale of Mozarts"s last piano sonata in Doctorate major, K. 576, and treats it to changes using elements of jazz. Gárdonyi edited various organ works by César Franck and his father Zoltan Gárdonyi, such as the three motets.
