The Hungarian classic pianist and keyboardist Csaba Vedres has a long progressive experience. His career in the genre began at the end of the 80s with the excellent After Crying, publishing three wonderful albums in the nineties titled "Overground music", "Megalázottak és megszomorítottak" and "Föld és ég". After that, he left the band to carry out a new project called Townscream and released the splendid "Nagyvárosi ikonok" before splitting. Then Vedres decided to begin his solo career. In all of the mentioned albums you can see what Csaba considers progressive rock must be: the merger of rock, classic music, jazz and folk, to which you must add feeling, special sensitivity and an exquisite taste.
The musician's first album has been titled "Mesék, levelek" (tales, letters) and it is a surprise, as it includes 22 short tracks (between 1:47 and 5:39 minutes). Of them, 21 are played by a solo piano and the remaining one (a remix of the well known After Crying's piece "Így szólt to madár") is played by a Korg synthesizer. The first 9 themes are tales, track number 10 is the mentioned remix, and finally you can hear 12 more songs, the letters.It is clear that this is not progressive rock, at least instrumentally, although probably it would be ideologically progressive. What I mean is that Csaba can compose classical piano music, but his ideas, his compose method, his arrangements and his heart and soul are progressive. Tracks such as "I", "II", "IV", "VI" and "VIII" included in the tales side, and "V" of the letters, if arranged by any of the two bands in which Vedres has been involved, would offer unbelievable results. Also, pieces such as "VII" and "IX./b" in the tales and "II" and "III" in the letters, are full of melancholy and stunning sentiments. Listening to this album is like contemplating the naked soul of the first After Crying and of Townscream, and it becomes a true pleasure to be as near to heaven.
In conclusion, it is evident that "Mesék, levelek" is not a progressive rock album but a classical piano work. However, there are interesting pieces here that show that, aside of the music style one plays, if an artist has a progressive soul, all of his work is bathed on it. Very good.

Jaume Pujol