GYÖRGY KURTÁG
(born 1926 in Lugoj, Romania; currently resides in France)

Tre pezzi per violino e pianoforte, Op. 14e (1979)

I Öd und traurig
II Vivo
III Aus der Ferne: Sehr leise, äusserst langsam

György Kurtág's early life was inevitably influenced and shaped by unstable world conditions. Romanian-born, he moved to Budapest in 1946 to study with Sándor Veress and Ferenc Farkas (composition), Pál Kadosa (piano) and Léo Weiner (chamber music) at the Academy of Music, He was confined to Hungary after the Communists took over; the country became heavily censored and protected by the ruling authorities from progressive artistic developments and whatever was considered 'bourgeois.'

In the brief opportunity when he was able to travel abroad, Kurtág went to Paris (1957-1958), where he studied with the art psychologist Marianne Stein as well as with Darius Milhaud and Oliver Messiaen. It was Stein who made the greatest impact on Kurtág 's creative identity. She encouraged him to explore expressing himself within clearly-defined limits--such as a few notes.

Tre Pezzi per violino e pianoforte is a short work comprising three mini-movements. Reworked for violin and piano from one of three vocal cycles composed in 1979, the piece offers an altered sense of time, space, and sounds. While the work can be deconstructed and analyzed, Tre Pezzi can also simply transport its listeners to a special world and offer a satisfying listening experience.

Characteristic of Kurtág 's works, Tre Pezzi is highly concentrated and devoid of empty gestures. Note-wise, there are absolutely no frills; the composer chooses his notes sparingly but with utmost attention and concentration, and there is much meaning contained in each note. In a way, one can say that Kurtág's music is symbolic--individual notes symbolize a myriad of expressions, and works symbolize people. But he does not overstate; true to his inner creative motivation, he writes music that is simple, serious, and direct. He is quoted as having said, "I keep coming back to the realization that one note is almost enough."

In that sense, Tre Pezzi could be compared to Anton Webern's Vier Stücke, Op. 7 (1910). In both works there is an infinite world contained in each note although Kurtág's piece sounds much less experimental than Webern's. While Webern's challenge is that of compacting messages into a single gesture or a note, what motivates Kurtág is the challenge of communicating without intervening factors getting in the way.

Throughout Tre Pezzi, the violin remains muted. The hushed sounds that result are complemented by abundant use of open strings and the timbre brought out of the piano contributes to the mysterious but miraculous sonority. The atmosphere of the three movements is distinctive--from the dream-like first piece to the scherzo second, followed by chant like third--but together, they make a memorable impression of a different quality of 'reality'.