Gyorgy Kurtag : Games for Piano - Volume 2

SKU: HL.50511775

ISBN 9790080144848. Bach (23 x 30,2 cm) inches. Hungarian, English. Zsolt Serei.

The piano series entitled Album leaves is an open piece, like an imaginary keepsake album which is continually added to, and the pages are connected through the owner of the album. The movements that form the series begun in 1983 can be played singly, independently of each other and also in a freely chosen sequence. If the work is played as a cycle, the order of subsequent movements is optional, but the sequence must begin with the movement Introduction, and must end with Postludium. The loose album-leaf series of the 19th century piano literature (the works of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt) or Gyorgy Kurtag's piano-piece cycle Jatekok (Games) can equally be considered as the antecedents of or inspiration for the series.

SKU: HL.50600972

ISBN 9790080147849. UPC: 888680739362. 9.0x12.0x0.138 inches. Hungarian, English, German. Gyorgy Kurtag.

The piano series entitled Games, written from 1973 onwards, was conceived originally as a piano method. Its early volumes introduced children to the basic elements in piano-playing and musical thinking, and, more importantly still, taught them to play music without inhibitions. As the years went by, the view of the series lost its didactic character. It came to be seen as a document from Kurtág's workshop, offering a key to his grander symphonic, chamber and vocal works as well. This change is exemplified in the subtitle Diary entries, personal messages added from the fifth volume onwards. The pieces in the ninth volume date from 1989-2009, except the youthful Apple blossom, written in 1947. The movements, often aphorismic in their briefness, conceal associations with various aspects of European music history. Many of them are hommage or in memoriam pieces, or subjective personal messages to friends, colleagues, beloved family members or students, and thereby to all music-loving people.

SKU: BT.EMBZ8377

English-German-Hungari an.

The idea of composing 'Games' was suggested by children playing spontaneously, children for whom the piano still means a toy. They experiment with it, caress it, attack it and run their fingers over it. They pile up seemingly disconnected sounds, and if this happens to arouse their musical instinct they look consciously for some of the harmonies found by chance and keep repeating them. Thus this series does not provide a tutor, nor does it simply stand as a collection of pieces. It is a possibility for experimenting and not for learning to play the piano.Pleasure in playing, the joy of movement - daring and if need be fast movement over the entire keyboard right from the firstlessons instead of clumsy groping for keys and the counting of rhythms - all these rather vague ideas lay at the outset of the creation of this collection. Playing - is just playing. It requires a great deal of freedom and initiative from the performer. On no account should the written image be taken seriously but the written image must be taken extremely seriously as regards the musical process, the quality of sound and silence. We should trust the picture of the printed notes and let is exert its influence upon us. The graphic picture conveys an idea about the arrangement in time of even the most free pieces. We should make use of all that we know and remember of free declamation, folk-music parlando-rubato, of Gregorian chant and of all that improvisational musical practice has ever brought forth.Let us tackle bravely even the most difficult task without being afraid of making mistakes: we should try to create valid proportions, unity and continuity out of the long and short values - just for our own pleasure! (BMC CD 139).

SKU: BT.EMBZ8378

English-German-Hungari an.

The idea of composing 'Games' was suggested by children playing spontaneously, children for whom the piano still means a toy. They experiment with it, caress it, attack it and run their fingers over it. They pile up seemingly disconnected sounds, and if this happens to arouse their musical instinct they look consciously for some of the harmonies found by chance and keep repeating them. Thus this series does not provide a tutor, nor does it simply stand as a collection of pieces. It is a possibility for experimenting and not for learning to play the piano.Pleasure in playing, the joy of movement - daring and if need be fast movement over the entire keyboard right from the firstlessons instead of clumsy groping for keys and the counting of rhythms - all these rather vague ideas lay at the outset of the creation of this collection. Playing - is just playing. It requires a great deal of freedom and initiative from the performer. On no account should the written image be taken seriously but the written image must be taken extremely seriously as regards the musical process, the quality of sound and silence. We should trust the picture of the printed notes and let is exert its influence upon us. The graphic picture conveys an idea about the arrangement in time of even the most free pieces. We should make use of all that we know and remember of free declamation, folk-music parlando-rubato, of Gregorian chant and of all that improvisational musical practice has ever brought forth.Let us tackle bravely even the most difficult task without being afraid of making mistakes: we should try to create valid proportions, unity and continuity out of the long and short values - just for our own pleasure! (BMC CD 139).

SKU: BT.EMBZ8379

English-German-Hungari an.

The idea of composing 'Games' was suggested by children playing spontaneously, children for whom the piano still means a toy. They experiment with it, caress it, attack it and run their fingers over it. They pile up seemingly disconnected sounds, and if this happens to arouse their musical instinct they look consciously for some of the harmonies found by chance and keep repeating them. Thus this series does not provide a tutor, nor does it simply stand as a collection of pieces. It is a possibility for experimenting and not for learning to play the piano.Pleasure in playing, the joy of movement - daring and if need be fast movement over the entire keyboard right from the firstlessons instead of clumsy groping for keys and the counting of rhythms - all these rather vague ideas lay at the outset of the creation of this collection. Playing - is just playing. It requires a great deal of freedom and initiative from the performer. On no account should the written image be taken seriously but the written image must be taken extremely seriously as regards the musical process, the quality of sound and silence. We should trust the picture of the printed notes and let is exert its influence upon us. The graphic picture conveys an idea about the arrangement in time of even the most free pieces. We should make use of all that we know and remember of free declamation, folk-music parlando-rubato, of Gregorian chant and of all that improvisational musical practice has ever brought forth.Let us tackle bravely even the most difficult task without being afraid of making mistakes: we should try to create valid proportions, unity and continuity out of the long and short values - just for our own pleasure! (BMC CD 139).

SKU: HL.50600649

ISBN 9790080150009. UPC: 888680895518. 10.25x13.5x0.622 inches. Hungarian, English. Gyorgy Kurtag.

In the autumn of 1974 György Kurtág began to copy selected pieces from the series Games into a music notebook for Zoltán Kocsis who had been his student in earlier years and who, even today, is one of its most authentic performers. Kocsis played from this notebook in the first public performance of Games in 1974. The gradually expanding series of piano pieces also appeared in print in the course of later decades; however, since then he has used this collection - expanded over 32 years since by Kurtág - whenever he plays pieces from Games in concert. Since the time of this 1974 concert, as he writes: 'I didn't know that the spiral notebook I received at the premiere would later become, as it were, my permanent companion. That I would take it with me from Japan to Canada, from Australia to Iceland, travelling to the world's most prominent concert halls, surviving fire damage, flood, transport catastrophes, theft attempts, forced landings and so on, and that - well beyond the intention of its being 'copied with love' - it would include works and sketches for which this notebook would become the principal source.' The manuscript gives a glimpse into Kurtág's workshop from the viewpoint of both performers and musicologists. The former can understand more from Kurtág's handwriting about the composer's intentions than from the printed score. The musicologists, however, can study the historical origins of the works: some works can be found here in more than one version, others appear in a version different from the printed score. The publication is accompanied by a booklet and a CD supplement. The booklet contains Kocsis's own personal preface, as well as András Wilheim's essay providing information about the collection and the pieces contained therein. On the CD we hear 11 works performed by Kocsis, from a recording made in 1982 which has not previously been commercially issued.

SKU: BT.EMBZ15000N

English-Hungarian.

In the autumn of 1974 György Kurtág began to copy selected pieces from the series Games into a music notebook for Zoltán Kocsis who was his student in earlier years and who, throughout his entire life, was one of its most authentic performers. Kocsis played from this notebook in the first public performance of Games in 1974. The gradually expanding series of piano pieces also appeared in print in the course of later decades however, he always used this collection - expanded over 32 years since by Kurtág - whenever he played pieces from Games in concert. Since the time of this 1974 concert, as Kocsis wrote later: ''I didn't know that the spiral notebook I received at thepremiere would later become, as it were, my permanent companion. That I would take it with me from Japan to Canada, from Australia to Iceland, travelling to the world's most prominent concert halls, surviving fire damage, flood, transport catastrophes, theft attempts, forced landings and so on, and that - well beyond the intention of its being 'copied with love' - it would include works and sketches for which this notebook would become the principal source.''The manuscript gives a glimpse into Kurtág's workshop from the viewpoint of both performers and musicologists. The former can understand more from Kurtág's handwriting about the composer's intentions than from the printed score. The musicologists, however, can study the historical origins of the works: some works can be found here in more than one version, others appear in a version different from the printed score.The publication is accompanied by a booklet and a CD supplement. The booklet contains Kocsis's own personal preface, as well as András Wilheim's essay providing information about the collection and the pieces contained therein. On the CD we hear 11 works performed by Kocsis, from a recording made in 1982 which has not previously been commercially issued.

SKU: HL.50601465

ISBN 9790080150740. UPC: 888680970147. 9.0x12.0x0.178 inches. Hungarian, English, German. Gyorgy Kurtag.

Signs, Games and Messages are series for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Each of the three notions refers to an essential factor in Kurtág’s music. Signs ties it with the composer's period of study in Paris as a young man, when he could not compose, merely put graphic signs on the paper. Games links with his nine-volume series for the piano with that title. Messages conveys the very personal content of these works, in that these short pieces are meant to be diary-entries and missives to musiciansand friends important to Kurtág. The collection – like the earlier five series for string instruments – does not form a coherent cycle. The pieces can be played individually or in various orders or mixed with from Signs, Games and Messages written for other instruments.

SKU: HL.50601253

ISBN 9790080150665. UPC: 888680970260. 9.0x12.0x0.192 inches. Hungarian, English, German. Gyorgy Kurtag.

Signs, Games and Messages are series for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Each of the three notions refers to an essential factor in Kurtág's music. Signs ties in with the composer's period of study in Paris as a young man, when he could not compose, merely put graphic signs on the paper. (Additionally, the word points to inspiration gained from the art of Klee and Michaux.) Games links with his nine-volume series for the piano with that title. Messages conveys the very personal content of these works, in that these short pieces are actually diary notes and missives to musicians and friends important to Kurtág. The collection - like his earlier five series for stringed instruments - does not form a coherent cycle. The pieces can be played individually or in various orders or among pieces from Signs, Games and Messages written for other instruments.

SKU: BT.EMBZ15074

English-German-Hungari an.

Signs, Games and Messages are series for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Each of the three notions refers to an essential factor in Kurtág s music. Signs ties it with the composer s period of study in Paris as a young man, when he could not compose, merely put graphic signs on the paper. Games links with his nine-volume series for the piano with that title. Messages conveys the very personal content of these works, in that these short pieces are meant to be diary-entries and missives to musicians and friends important to Kurtág.The collection - like the earlier five series for string instruments - does not form a coherent cycle. The pieces can be playedindividually or in various orders or mixed with from Signs, Games and Messages written for other instruments.

SKU: HL.50610135

9.0x12.0x0.188 inches.

The cycle Scenes for solo flute, written in September 1997 and dedicated to Ádám Szokolay, occupies an extraordinary place in György Kurtág's oeuvre. The premiere of the long-withheld composition was held in 2016 on the composer's 90th birthday. Each movement in the cycle reformulates familiar gestures of Kurtág's music: it develops pensive, impetuous, ethereal or playful characters. Signs, Games and Messages are collections for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Each of the three words refers to an essential factor in Kurtág's music. Signs ties to the composer's study year in Paris as a young man, when he could not compose but merely put graphic signs on the paper. Games links with his nine-volume series for the piano with that title. Messages conveys the very personal content of these works, in that these short pieces are actually diary-notes and missives to musicians and friends important to Kurtág. The collection - like similar collections for string and wind instruments - does not form a coherent cycle; thepieces can be played individually, or in various orders, or together with pieces from Signs, Games and Messages written for other instruments.

SKU: HL.50605346

ISBN 9781705180242. UPC: 196288106142.

This edition continues the series of György Kurtág's Bach transcriptions for piano duet which were published in 'Transcriptions fromMachaut to J. S. Bach' and 'Seven Bach Chorales.' These pieces were originally written for the Kurtágs, György and his wife Márta, for their own use, and they were often played, together with the 'Játékok' [Games] pieces, at the couple's piano duet concerts. This transcription is dedicated to Víkingur Ólafsson.