György Kurtág (b. 1926)

Started by bhodges, November 12, 2007, 10:18:39 AM

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bhodges

Quote from: Brünnhilde ewig on June 10, 2009, 06:08:41 AM
See, I knew someone would come up with laudits for the soprano, thank you, Bruce!

The booklet in the DVD gives her c.v. and it is very impressive, but you know by now my prejudice concerning female jodelers!  ::)

;D

Well, she may not be well-matched with this piece, who knows?  Just because a singer can do a specific work, doesn't mean she should do it.  But I'll reserve comment until I've seen it.  And thanks again for letting me know about this. 

--Bruce

karlhenning

Quote from: bhodges on June 10, 2009, 06:21:02 AM
Just because a singer can do a specific work, doesn't mean she should do it.

Quoted for truth.

Joaquimhock

#22
Quote from: toucan on October 18, 2010, 09:49:48 PM
This November 2nd, Palais Garnier in Paris:

Transcriptions and selection of Játékok,
    Marta & György Kurtag, Piano
Colinda-Balada for chorus and nine instruments, op. 46 (first performance in France)
Four poems by Akhmatova for soprano and instrumental ensemble, op. 41 (first performance in France)
    Natalia Zagorinskaia.  Soprano
    Chorus of the Cluj Philharmonia
      Ensemble Musikfabrik
    Cornel Groza,  Conductor
    Olivier Cuendet, Conductor

Can't comment on the Colinda-Balada and the Four Poems op 41 as I have never heard them. This should be the first tie I see the Kurtags live, looking forward to it.



I wil be there too! First time I will hear György and Marta Kurtag live...  Colinda Balada seems to be a great peice. He wrote it for his hometown located in Romania nowadays.


I agree with you about Stele. This is really something special.

According to an interview published this year in a Swiss newspaper, Kurtag is writing an opera after Beckett's "Fin de Partie" (Endgame).
The preimère should be in Salzburg not before 2013.

Joaquim
"Dans la vie il faut regarder par la fenêtre"

Joaquimhock

Quote from: toucan on October 18, 2010, 09:49:48 PM
This November 2nd, Palais Garnier in Paris:

Transcriptions and selection of Játékok,
    Marta & György Kurtag, Piano
Colinda-Balada for chorus and nine instruments, op. 46 (first performance in France)
Four poems by Akhmatova for soprano and instrumental ensemble, op. 41 (first performance in France)
    Natalia Zagorinskaia.  Soprano
    Chorus of the Cluj Philharmonia
      Ensemble Musikfabrik
    Cornel Groza,  Conductor
    Olivier Cuendet, Conductor

Can't comment on the Colinda-Balada and the Four Poems op 41 as I have never heard them. This should be the first tie I see the Kurtags live, looking forward to it.

____________________




You  can listen to this wonderful concert here: http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/prog/diff/liste_concert.php?alecoute=1
"Dans la vie il faut regarder par la fenêtre"

bhodges

Joaquim, thank you so much for posting that!  I don't recall ever hearing the last two pieces.

--Bruce

Joaquimhock

Quote from: bhodges on December 07, 2010, 09:21:50 AM
Joaquim, thank you so much for posting that!  I don't recall ever hearing the last two pieces.

--Bruce

They are very recent. Colinda Balada has been first performed last year in Romania. Kurtag wrote it for his birthplace, Lugos and it was also a tribute to the Romanian language he learnt when he was young.
Strange and wonderful piece.
"Dans la vie il faut regarder par la fenêtre"

bhodges

Just found out that this CD has been released of a live concert at Carnegie Hall (actually Zankel Hall, one of the smaller ones) of Kurtág and Ligeti, with Peter Eötvös and the UMZE Ensemble. I was at the concert, and it was exceptionally good, with a searing performance of Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova - a very happy surprise to find that it's now available.

--Bruce

some guy

I'm on a buying moratorium, sadly.

But when I go off it, there are two CDs I will want to get right away. (1 and 3 on toucan's list. I already have 2 and 4.)

Thanks for posting this--and especially for posting pictures of the covers.

snyprrr

I took that DG in the car the other day and couldn't hear jack for most of the piece no matter how loud I turned it. I realize it's not meant perhaps for das auto, so I'll recheck. I also have the Sony disc and the Keller disc (and was going to get the 'trio' ECM disc), but I don't know how far Kurtag is sticking with me. Perhaps I'll have to set aside some time here...

snyprrr

btw- my dyslexia reads your ThreadTitle as 'Kurt Cobain'! ;D

not edward

Quote from: toucan on October 07, 2011, 01:59:14 AM
Abbado's recording of Grabstein seems too faint to follow, even in the peace & quiet of one's library.  Zoltan Pesko's recording might be more audible:


I rather liked the rawness of the Peter Eötvös-led performance on Col Legno's 2CD 70th birthday portrait, probably my favourite Kurtag collection. (Lots of good stuff on it--Zoltan Kocsis and Miklos Perenyi in the Double Concerto; Adrienne Csengery in the two short song cycles Requiem po drugu and Drei alte Inschriften; a alternative Samuel Beckett: What is the Word from the one issued on DG, and Kocsis again in the mini-concerto ...quasi una fantasia.... The only downer is that the Keller Quartet only contribute excerpts from the 12 Microludes.)

"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

snyprrr

I went through an intensive Kurtag-a-thon of the three above mentioned orchestral works, and the Sony/Eotvos, and the Keller/ECM discs. I'm sorry, but I'm getting a slightly annoyed feeling towards this Composer. Perhaps it is he, and not the likes of Gorecki, who has been overestimated for so long, becoming a darling without, what appears to me, to be any scrutiny.

Perhaps I'm just feeling dismissive, but, Kurtag was supposed to be a Composer I should love. As I listened with as objective an ear as I could find, I found Kurtag continually falling flat on my Interest-Meter. Perhaps I enjoyed his Op.1 SQ the most, and the orchestral pieces the least. Perhaps he seemed like a combination of Schnittke and Webern to me, which, I suppose, is something I didn't need?

I would still be interested in hearing the 'Signs' cd on ECM, but it is not cheap at the moment. However, this recent listening party didn't make me want to immediately get this one, so, it seems as if I've made up my mind here. I'm just not hearing the  'devastating' aspects of the climaxes, and the 'chiseled' aspects of his music I prefer in others (Webern for one).

I do get the impression that some (Manfred Eischer(?)... the ECM guy) love Kurtag and will wave his flag till the end. Other than him being alive, I fail to hear the fuss. Could Kurtag be an example of Affirmative Action in the music biz?

Sign me, Perplexed.

bhodges

Have you heard Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova? I only mention it because IMHO it's one of his best.

--Bruce

CRCulver

#33
Quote from: snyprrr on October 24, 2011, 09:07:48 AM
I do get the impression that some (Manfred Eischer(?)... the ECM guy) love Kurtag and will wave his flag till the end. Other than him being alive, I fail to hear the fuss. Could Kurtag be an example of Affirmative Action in the music biz?

No, there's plenty of people who really love him. For example, as a speaker of Hungarian, I've witnessed a pretty good level of support for him in Hungary and parts of Transylvania even among listeners who don't care so much for modernism. Kurtág's music provides insightful commentary on some key Hungarian poets, and some key Hungarian poets have been influenced by his work. In fact, as I read more of the poets that Kurtág has set, it is that response to poetry that is becoming what I focus on in his work.

It may be that the "combination of Schnittke and Webern" doesn't work for you (I'd say "Webern and Bartok", though), but the fact that Kurtág's music is a unique synthesis of variant traditions, and the fact that his music relates to wider culture, is attractive to a certain demographic.

not edward

Quote from: CRCulver on October 24, 2011, 02:11:21 PM
(I'd say "Webern and Bartok", though)
Most strongly seconded.

I tend to blow hot and cold on Kurtag--some works I really don't enjoy, some I think are tremendous. Which probably says more about me than about him. :)
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

snyprrr

Quote from: toucan on October 24, 2011, 04:15:57 PM
This seems well-observed - who made the observation? At his best (STELE, Troussova) Kurtag seems on a par with free-atonality Webern and Schoenberg - but at times (Quasi una Fantasia) he is tending toward something comparable to Schnittke and Sofia Gubaidulina - overcoming modernism, while remaining modern, somehow.

haha... that was me

Quote from: Brewski on October 24, 2011, 09:17:15 AM
Have you heard Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova? I only mention it because IMHO it's one of his best.

--Bruce

Yes, it's on the Sony/Eotvos disc (along with Scenes from a Novel). I'll have to return later.

Quote from: CRCulver on October 24, 2011, 02:11:21 PM
No, there's plenty of people who really love him. For example, as a speaker of Hungarian, I've witnessed a pretty good level of support for him in Hungary and parts of Transylvania even among listeners who don't care so much for modernism. Kurtág's music provides insightful commentary on some key Hungarian poets, and some key Hungarian poets have been influenced by his work. In fact, as I read more of the poets that Kurtág has set, it is that response to poetry that is becoming what I focus on in his work.

It may be that the "combination of Schnittke and Webern" doesn't work for you (I'd say "Webern and Bartok", though), but the fact that Kurtág's music is a unique synthesis of variant traditions, and the fact that his music relates to wider culture, is attractive to a certain demographic.

I can appreciate that. I'll try again later.

Joaquimhock

#36
You can listen to Kurtag's latest work, "brefs messages op.47" for 9 instruments on Swiss radio: http://www.rsr.ch/audio/espace-2/musique-d-avenir/3550947-autour-de-kurtag-13-11-2011.html

Starts at 1.16

It was premiered a few weeks ago in Geneva by the Ensemble Contrechamps.

In this progral (in French) music director Olivier Cuendet speaks about Kurtag's current work and says he's working on an opera based on Samuel Becket for the Salzburg festival.
"Dans la vie il faut regarder par la fenêtre"

BobsterLobster

When I was studying music at University, I was the 'go-to' man for contemporary piano playing... probably because my technique and sight-reading were pretty good. I actually wasn't that keen on contemporary music, I prefered playing Rachmaninov, Liszt, Ravel, etc.
Anyway, my University organises one of the most important contemporary festivals in the world, and Kurtag was one of the featured composers... I was asked to play some pieces from his 'Játékok' series, with some coaching from Kurtag and his wife beforehand. I will always remember almost a full hour of frustration.... playing his piece which was based on the opening chords of the Tchaik Piano Concerto... but done by slamming one's fist down on the piano instead of playing chords. The point of these pieces is to help teach young children how to play and appreciate contemporary music. Well, I couldn't seem to slam my fist down in quite the right way for them, the whole thing seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. From then on, I don't have much respect for Kurtag!

Lethevich

Can anyone suggest recordings of his core works - either the most known or ones that represent his style the best? There don't seem to be the obvious stand-out 'classic' recordings as you would find with, say, Berio, Carter, Boulez, etc.
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

snyprrr

Quote from: Lethevich on April 07, 2012, 02:54:53 PM
Can anyone suggest recordings of his core works - either the most known or ones that represent his style the best? There don't seem to be the obvious stand-out 'classic' recordings as you would find with, say, Berio, Carter, Boulez, etc.

Eegad!! :o You're listening to Ballif? ??? Medic!! :-*

haha... it's springtime!! listen to Mozart!! ;) ;D

I'm not in the mood for recommending Kurtag,... I'd start with the Keller SQs on ECM. 8)