György Kurtág (b. 1926) is widely regarded as one of the foremost composers in the second half of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first. Born in Romania, he received crucial training in Paris from Olivier Messiaen and Marianne Stein. He was also shaped by his broadening contact there with the music of Webern and such challenging literary works as the plays of Samuel Beckett. After many years in Hungary, teaching at the Budapest Academy of Music, Kurtág settled near Bordeaux with his wife Márta. The two regularly perform duo-recitals of his music. In 2006, his ... concertante ... (2003, for violin, viola and orchestra) won the coveted Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.
This unique set of interviews with Kurtág, alone or with his wife, gives a fascinating insight into the composer's personality, which is marked by shyness but also an unquenchable thirst for impressions of every kind (artistic, natural and human). The two speak with disarming openness about their lives -- the background against which masterpieces like Messages of the Late Miss R. V. Troussova (1976-80, for soprano and chamber orchestra) or Stele (1994, for orchestra) were written.
The analysis of certain of Kurtág's works, especially of ... concertante ..., shows the way that his mind works: no system, no dogma, no formulae -- rather, basic human emotions expressed through means that speak directly to the listener's innermost feelings.
The Hungarian music publisher Bálint András Varga has spent nearly forty years working for and with composers. He has published several books, including extensive interviews with Lutoslawski, Berio, and Xenakis.
Reviews
Offers telling insights . . . [on the] linkage between teaching and communicating, teaching and composing. . . . Reach[es] to the core of Kurtag's essential expressionism. . . . [Kurtag's] tributes to [Ligeti] provide . . . the shrewdest, clearest-eyed judgment of his friend's achievements. "Mementos of a friendship" . . . is as artfully assembled as any of Kurtag's compositions. --MUSICAL TIMES [Arnold Whittall]Like many of Kurtág's finest pieces, [this book] is short but densely packed. In three extended interviews with Varga, the composer provides piercing insights into a vast range of music and addresses his own work with startling clarity, candor, and humility. He also delivers three tributes to his longtime friend György Ligeti, revealing more of Ligeti's psychology and creativity than any commentator in print. --THE NEW YORKER [Alex Ross] Read the full review at http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/alexross/2009/10/gyorgy-kurtag.html
Kurtág is a very shy volcano. He is either silent or he erupts. We have been seeing each other for fifty years, privately or professionally, but it is thanks to this book that I have come to know him properly. He never or hardly ever gives interviews. What Bálint András Varga has brought off here is a veritable miracle. No one else could have done it. This book is proof of Kurtág's trust in and appreciation of him. --Peter Eötvös, noted Hungarian conductor and composer
An important introduction to the music and the personality of this unique composer. --Pierre Boulez
Provides vivid insight into composer György Kurtág's creative genius. The special perspective that Bálint Varga brings is incomparably sensitive; the cultural roots he shares with Kurtág along with his vast knowledge of music, history, and visual and literary arts offer a brilliant foundation for Kurtág's ideas. Moreover, as former head of promotion for Universal Edition in Vienna, Varga writes with profound awareness of the work of Kurtág's contemporaries. A uniquely sensitive look at Kurtág's extraordinary work, character, and personality. --Kent Nagano, general music director of the Bavarian State Opera and Orchestra and music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
