Release Date: 19 December 2008
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 028946183328
Genres: Classical
Description
The first new album by Kurtág in six years is a major event. Kurtág was always a master of the miniature - no tone or texture, no grain of sound is wasted - but now his work is more concentrated than ever. The work on "Signs, Games and Messages" represents a pinnacle of Kurtág's art of achieving the ultimate in expression by the most minimal of means.
The album is comprised of settings of Hölderlin (and Paul Celan) in the "Hölderlin-Gesänge", sung by Kurt Widmer, and of Beckett (and Sébastien Chamfort) in " ... pas à pas – nulle part ...", sung by Widmer with string trio and percussion. The two song cycles are linked by the work-in-progress that gives the album its title: "Signs, Games and Messages" for strings. The three cycles recorded here – and to which the distinguished interpreters gave years of intense collaboration – comprise between them a total of 59 tracks, only one of which goes beyond three minutes in duration. More than any composer before him, Kurtág has mastered the art of the expressive musical aphorism – or, as he self-deprecatingly puts it, "making music out of almost nothing." But as England's The Guardian said, "A whole world of expression and suggestion can be packed into these exquisite, crystalline forms."
FEATURED ARTISTS
Kurt Widmer: Baritone
Orlando Trio
Hiromi Kikuchi: Violin
Ken Hakii: Viola
Stefan Metz: Cello
Mircea Ardeleanu: Percussion
Heinrich Huber: Trombone
David LeClair: Tuba
Tracklisting
Various artists
Yuval Cohen Quartet
Thomas Stronen; Craig Taborn; Chris Potter; Sinikka Langeland; Jorge Rossy
Stephan Micus
Rainer Bruninghaus
Paul Bley
Mathias Eick; Kristjan Randalu; Ole Morten Vagan; Hans Hulbaekmo
Julia Hulsmann Quartet
Keller Quartett
György Kurtág/Juliane Banse/András Keller
Gyorgy Kurtag
Gyorgy Kurtag
