A very quick entry for Random Contemporary Music, here at Musica in Extenso. A hungarian composer, Sándor Veress, who has followed the spirit of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály and was the professor of a strong and prodigious generation, of two very important composer of the 20th Century: György Ligeti and György Kurtág.

Today on Musica in Extenso:

Sándor Veress

Sonata for oboe, clarinet and bassoon

Gyorgy and Marta Kurtag talk about Mr. Kurtag’s first opera (at age 92) based on Beckett’s Endgame:

“Endgame” remains the crowning achievement not just of Mr. Kurtag’s career, but also of the couple’s creative relationship. The interview in Budapest began with his tribute to Mrs. Kurtag. Moving with difficulty, a walker supporting his frail figure, Mr. Kurtag visibly softened as he sat at the piano. There, he performed what he called a “pocket opera” that he wrote for his wife’s 90th birthday this year.

His eyes gleamed and his lips joined in a smile as he turned to Mrs. Kurtag. He recited two lines from the Hungarian poet Attila Jozsef, written in French, that roughly translate as “I have no theme other than that I love you.” He then took the syllables apart, repeating each one until the line of poetry was impossible to pick out among the bare sounds. Each repeated phrase resolved itself with soft chords.

He said he didn’t see his own life playing out in his new Beckett opera, and yet he felt that Mrs. Kurtag and himself were present in the piece.

“It is us who are in ‘Fin de Partie,’ ” Mr. Kurtag said.

Mrs. Kurtag added: “This is our endgame.”

Dear Followers,

this week we feature the 4th Edition of our special series entitled Random Contemporary Music, here at Musica in Extenso. This week usually presents the music of the 20th Century and especially the music of the new generations of contemporary composers. As you know, our blog is strongly related to contemporary music and we also like to support young composers: last week we focused on the creation of the young english composer, Richard Blackquiere and soon we will have a new guest-editor in our most-followed series (Composer Portraits) in the person of a young composer-pianist. Stay tuned for more music and join us this week!

György Kurtág is a very important composer of the 20th Century. He is an award-winning contemporary composer and also pianist. We need to mention that he studied composition with the hungarian composer, Sándor Veress at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. His creation is influenced by the famous Béla Bartók, but we find the characteristic of the impressionism (Anton Webern).

Today in Musica in Extenso:

György Kurtág

Quasi una Fantasia for orchestra

Kurtág György ma 100 éves. A második operáját holnap mutatják be, amit nemrég elhunyt feleségének Kurtág Mártának írt.

A képeken a partitúra hátsó lapja látható, amin a szerző kézírásos, szívbemarkoló üzenete olvasható.

Az alábbi fotót pedig én készítettem róluk, amikor először hívták meg Gyuri bácsit Darmstadtba professzornak 2008-ban.