In 1973, György Kurtág began composing piano miniatures to which he gave the collective title of Játékok (Games). He has continued to add to the series, so that now there are well over 400 such pieces, for both solo piano and four hands, which have been published in 10 volumes so far. The pieces, rarely more than a couple of minutes long and sometimes lasting just a few seconds, were first intended as didactic exercises, designed to elucidate a musical point or a detail of keyboard technique, but the collection soon began to encompass other occasional works and more personal expressions – birthday greetings, tributes and memorials to friends and fellow musicians, paraphrases of other music – becoming a complete encyclopedia of Kurtág’s compositional methods.
The composer and his wife, Márta, who died in 2019, regularly performed pieces from the growing collection in their recitals together, as well as recording a number of them. Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s selection, approved by Kurtág and recorded with him in attendance, takes in a total of 81 pieces drawn from all the published volumes, with the exception of the fourth and eighth, books of pieces for piano duet and two pianos, but also including some that are still in manuscript that will appear in the as yet unpublished 11th volume.
Aimard plays the pieces in chronological order, and that natural sequence provides all the contrast such an undertaking requires. There are pieces that are fiercely expressionist, others that are sweetly lyrical, even sentimental, some whose music is as withdrawn and mysterious as the titles that Kurtág gives them, and others that are laugh-out-loud witty. Whole worlds of expression are encapsulated in just a few bars, and listening to Aimard’s exemplary performances provides as important an insight into Kurtág’s very personal musical thinking as any of his larger-scale, more “public” pieces. Játékok is one of the major achievements of the last half century, and Aimard is the perfect guide to it.
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