Composer: György Kurtág
Performer: Natalia Zagorinskaja, Harry van der Kamp, Tamara Stefanovich, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Gerrie de Vries, Yves Saelens, Netherlands Radio Choir
Orchestra: Asko/Schönberg
Conductor: Reinbert de Leeuw
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: ECM
Release: 2017
Size: 2.3 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Four Capriccios, Op. 9:
01. Paris I: Musée de Cluny: La Dame à la Licorne
02. Paris II: Tour Saint-Jacques
03. Nyelvlecke
04. Ars Poetica
Four Songs To Poems By János Pilinszky, Op. 11:
05. Alkohol
06. In Memoriam F.M. Dosztojevszkij
07. Hölderlin
08. Verés
09. Grabstein für Stephan, Op. 15c
Messages Of The Late Miss R.V. Troussova, Op. 17:
I. Loneliness
10. In A Space Of …
11. The Day Has Fallen
II. A Little Erotic
12. Heat
13. Two Interlaced Bodies …
14. Why Should I Not Squeal Like A Pig
15. Chastushka
III. Bitter Experience – Delight And Grief
16. You Took My Heart
17. Great Misery
18. Pebbles
19. A Slender Needle
20. I Know My Loved One …
21. Autumn Flowers Fading …
22. In You I Seek My Salvation …
23. Your Disappearances …
24. Without You
25. Love Me …
26. Retaliation
27. A Plaything
28. Why Did You Utter …
29. In The Cloudburst …
30. For Everything … (Epilogue)
CD 02
…quasi una fantasia…, Op. 27-1:
01. Introduzione
02. Presto minaccioso e lamentoso (Wie ein Traumeswirren)
03. Recitativo. Grave, disperato
04. Aria – Adagio molto
Double Concerto, Op. 27/2:
05. I. Poco allegretto – II. L’istesso tempo – III. Presto agitato
06. IV. Adagio – Largo
07. Samuel Beckett: What Is The Word, Op. 30b
CD 03
Songs of Despair and Sorrow, Op 18:
01. So Weary, So Wretched …
02. Night, An Empty Street, A Lamp, A Drug-Store
03. Blue Evening
04. Where Can I Go To In This January?
05. Crucifixion
06. It’s Time
Songs To Poems By Anna Akhmatova, Op. 41:
07. Pushkin
08. To Aleksandr Blok
09. Dirge
10. Voronezh
11. Colindă-Baladă, Op. 46
Brefs Messages, Op. 47:
12. Fanfare
13. Versetto: Temptavit Deus Abraham
14. Ligatura Y
15. Bornemisza Péter: Az Hit …
leeuw-kurtag-complete-works-for-ensemble-and-choir-249602.rar – 689.8 MB
leeuw-kurtag-complete-works-for-ensemble-and-choir-249603.rar – 902.1 MB
Recorded in Amsterdam’s Musikgebouw and Haarlem’s Philharmonie between March 2013 and July 2016, this 3-CD set is a milestone in the documentation of Hungarian composer György Kurtág’s work and also a labour of love. It brings together all of Kurtàg’s works for ensemble and for ensemble and choir.
The insightful and precise performances bear witness to extensive preparation by the dedicated Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble. Conductor Reinbert de Leeuw speaks of “learning Kurtág’s oeuvre step by step, and performing these pieces repeatedly over a period of twenty years.”
De Leeuw consulted extensively with György and Márta Kurtág before and after each session: “There were moments when I was overwhelmed at first hearing”, says the famously-demanding Kurtág, “and we could embrace the result immediately. But sometimes we were critical. The fact that Reinbert always listened to our remarks and re-recorded fragments or even whole pieces makes this publication authentic.”
Works heard here are presented in chronological order of composition, beginning with the Four Capriccios (1959-1970, rev. 1993) and continuing with Four Songs to Poems by János Pilinszky (1975), Grabstein für Stephan (1978-79, rev. 1989), Messages of the late Miss R. Troussova (1976-80), …quasi una fantasia… (1987-88), Op. 27 No. 2 Double Concerto (1989-90), Samuel Beckett: What is the Word (1991), Songs of Despair and Sorrow (1980-1994), Songs to Poems by Anna Akhmatova (1997-2008), Colinda-Balada (2010), and Brefs Messages (2011).
The extensive CD booklet includes all song texts with translations, an interview with Reinbert de Leeuw, liner notes by Wolfgang Sandner and Paul Griffiths, and a statement by György Kurtág.