Gyorgy Kurtag - Signs, Games and Messages

The first new album by Kurt�g in six years is a major event. Kurt�g 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 Kurt�g's art of achieving the ultimate in expression by the most minimal of means. The album is comprised of settings of H�lderlin (and Paul Celan) in the H�lderlin-Ges�nge, sung by Kurt Widmer, and of Beckett (and S�bastien Chamfort) in ... pas � 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, Kurt�g 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 ARTISTSKurt Widmer: BaritoneOrlando Trio Hiromi Kikuchi: ViolinKen Hakii: ViolaStefan Metz: CelloMircea Ardeleanu: PercussionHeinrich Huber: TromboneDavid LeClair: Tuba