Subtitled 'J�t�kok - Games and Transcriptions for piano solo and four hands', this is a film, directed by Isabelle Soulard, of a concert given in September 2012 at Paris's Cit� de la Musique by the composer Gy�rgy Kurt�g and his wife.
The duo performances of M�rta and Gy�rgy Kurt�g have long been distinguished by flinty new music precision, matched by a quick-witted playfulness and underpinned by a quality of affection. What playing! raved the New Yorker's Alex Ross of a 'J�t�kok' concert. Notes were placed with surgical care; inner voices gleamed in crystalline patterns; elusive emotional states were painted with quick, light strokes.
From its origins in the early 1970s as a good-humoured unsystematic approach to teaching contemporary keyboard techniques to young players (early pieces in the series included use of clusters, glissandi, harmonics, playing with palms and forearms - a wide range of gestures), 'J�t�kok' (Games) has developed into a compendium of epigrammatic homages, jewelled miniatures dedicated to composers from Scarlatti to Stravinsky and Christian Wolff, and tributes to colleagues and influences.
In this special case the whole programme - 40 pieces plus three encores - is dedicated to the memory of the Kurt�gs' good friend, musicologist Hayd�e Charbagi (1979-2008). Interspersed amongst Gy�rgy Kurt�g's pieces are his much-admired Bach transcriptions - 'J�t�kok' is a work that has gained strength through contrasting and cross-referencing with other music. The whole programme closes with a radiant version of Bach's 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit'.
Among ECM's many widely-praised recordings of Kurt�g's music is a 1997 CD of 'J�t�kok', likewise performed by the composer and his wife. A very special experience - as memorable and as profound as any to be had from new music today, said Gramophone.
Personnel: Marta Kurtag, Gyorgy Kurtag (piano)
