Programs

According to Kurtág “our entire life is nothing but a single pilgrimage, to regain the child lost within us.” The impartial curiosity, absolute openness, and ardent love that he nurtures for certain composers of the past imply that he has managed to find this inner child. As a result, among contemporary composers perhaps Kurtág’s relationship to the heritage of music history is least burdened by problems. His knowledge of the musical literature is superior and encyclopaedic in its completeness. He taught the chamber music repertoire for decades. Yet he need not fear turning into a mere imitator: many moments in his compositions echo favourite moments from the musical repertoire of the past, but in an unmistakably individual and direct manner. His relationship to Hungarian and Romanian folk music is similar. His musical thinking is determined by the experience of folk music (some of his movements exist in many variants, like folksongs). Kurtág does not consciously wish to continue the Hungarian idiom of Bartók and Kodály, though neither does he eschew this influence. In this way his music preserves to this day, unencumbered by any ideology, the imprint of Hungarian and central European folklore.