Composer György Kurtág (1926) is the typical case of a late bloomer. He did not write his actual opus 1 until the age of 33, after a deep creative crisis. Art psychologist Marianne Stein dragged him through with the assignment to connect only two or three tones. A council with far-reaching consequences, from which Kurtág derived his aphoristic and idiosyncratic composing style. Another characteristic
… of his style is the intense relationship with music from the past. His First String Quartet (opus 1), for example, is a hidden homage to Bartók's quartets. Much more explicit are the references to tradition in the six Moments Musicaux, opus 46. Kurtág, however, is most frank in the Officium Breve In Memoriam Andraea Szervánszky. Not only does music by that other miniaturist Anton Webern pass by, but there is even a literal quote (Adagio interotto) from Szervánszky's Serenade for Strings, which unexpectedly breaks off. The Athena Quartett guarantees an adequate performance, although the CD title 'Complete Works…' is a bit premature for a composer who is still alive. (JWvR)more
