Gyorgy Kurtag (b.1926):"I keep coming back to the realization that one note is almost enough"
01-06 Six moments musicaux op.44 (1999-2005) (14:04)
Arditti String Quartet
STRASBOURG, France
Palais des FÍtes
26 sept 2008
Festival Musica
fm (France Musique, 26 dec 2008), Uploaded by Uncle Meat (DIME)
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07-08 Tre pezzi per violino e pianoforte Op. 14e (7:49)
Patricia Kopatchinskaja - violin
Mihaela Ursuleasa - piano
Conservatoire, Bruxelles (BE)
3 december 2007
uploaded by fadoze (DIME also)
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09-14 Messages For Orchestra Op. 34
Cambreling, Sylvain, conductor
Staatskapelle Dresden
Live performance; date, place & provenance unknown (to me!?!)
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the txt file includes extended Comments by J. R. Robinson (whose eloquence illustrates feelings I share regarding this wonderful musicmaker), excerpted here :
"...Kurtág is a composer steeped in tradition without himself being traditional... He bares his soul with a [Romantic] sense of drama, but everything expressed is distilled to its essence. Every note is telling, every silence is ripe with anticipation. His uncanny sense of time and proportion and his affinity with the silence between notes allow him to generate and maintain tension with the utmost economy of means.
Aside from the sheer concentration of it all, Kurtág's music communicates in a powerfully direct, speech-like way. It's not analogous to Janacek's overt use of Moravian speech patterns or anything so tangible; it's a subtle, sublimated communication in Kurtág's own uniquely expressive musical language -- a universal language spoken with a Hungarian accent.
You often get the impression that the music is speaking directly to you in an intimate, almost confessional way.
Ligeti once described Kurtág as "intelligent, sincere, and simple in a highly complex way." That description could just as well apply to his friend's music..."
Also, you'll find, in there, a primer on what to buy to hear more Kurtag!
Enjoy,
Guillermo
