Sunday, January 4, 2009

Kurtag: a random sampling of spare, deep beauty. Three in-concert recordings.


 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


13 comments:

  1. Six moments musicaux op.44
    http://www.mediafire.com/?naumnjmcm3d

    Tre pezzi per violino e pianoforte Op. 14e
    http://www.mediafire.com/?znjjjmjyvhm

    Messages For Orchestra Op. 34
    http://www.mediafire.com/?5ucgzdykhuw

    ReplyDelete
  2. AND for you lossless audio seekers, the Op.44 in Flacs, one sitx file:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?wimztx1yezt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Guillermo, I can't seem to open the sitx archive. I tried using The Unarchiver on Mac OS X which opens almost every archive on the planet. Maybe the file is corrupt?

    (btw, in the MP3 archives, you added the wrong track 4 to the op.44)

    ReplyDelete
  4. OK. Here is the remedied Op.44, track 4 corrcted. (the one previously posted, above, is deleted)
    http://www.mediafire.com/?iuimzc1uxtn

    And here's an Op.44, correct files, in Flac, one zip file.
    http://www.mediafire.com/?s4mwyxjidnd

    Abject and effusive apologies; I'm on the J-curve here :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Two of the files is password protected.
    Maybe please it is possible to get the password?
    thanx...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you, Guillermo, for the updated archives! I was able to successfully extract and convert them to Apple lossless (for use in iTunes).

    I am really glad I found this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I inadvertently put a password on those two in renaming them- It's OK now.
    No password protection on them anymore.
    Again, sorry. I generally try not to make the same mistake more than two or three times, in a row...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is there a commercial recording of Kurtag's op. 44?

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  9. Thanks so much for posting these!
    (Just got turned onto Kurtag's music last night at a concert in Chicago.)

    Regards,
    John

    ReplyDelete
  10. When I download "Messages" I get Tre pezzi" instead
    ???

    ReplyDelete
  11. jwfleck, sorry 'bout that. I got some names transposed somewhere on the way. Got too excited.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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Let me know if you've some (more) recordings to share!