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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What lieder are all about,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente (Audio CD)
Gyorgy Kurtag is gradually gaining the recognition he deserves. Songs for solo voice and solo violin? Sounds a little sparse, but nothing could be farther from the truth. These songs are fully-formed, expressive, evocative and deeply personal. These are duets in every sense of the word, with the full meaning conveyed by both performers. The poems by Kafka are perfect for setting. Each is a little fragment of a day, a thought, a sight. They are beautifully fleshed-out by Kurtag's thoughtful settings. Harmonies, even when only implied, are clear and purposeful.
The performers are ideal. Andras Keller's violin conveys warmth or steel wherever necessary. He is a supportive accompanist (not a trait one associates with violin) who gives the singer the confidence to probe the roles of each song. Julian Banse has a creamy tone that would suit many styles of music. She doesn't rely on her native gifts: she brings a real musician's attitude to these songs. She is a pleasure to hear. The recording itself is quite good. The listener gets the best seat in a medium-sized recital hall. Clear, but not clinical. The engineer doesn't always get credit for the pleasure of listening, but credit is deserved here. I find myself needing to hear this CD just "one more time". You will too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
40 miniatures, an absurd fragmented slice of life,
By R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente (Audio CD)
KAFKA-FRAGMENTE is 40 very short pieces for soprano and violin, a cycle of a little less than an hour -- here performed by the German soprano Juliane Banse and the Hungarian violinist Andras Keller. Kurtag is well-known for saying his music is made out of almost nothing. KAFKA-FRAGMENTE is certainly a case in point -- just a voice and a violin above the abyss, a few essential things, conveying much with little. An incredible creation -- powerful existentialism. The liner notes are quite informative and include all the lyrics. Kafka was Jewish, like Kurtag. He lived in Prague. Kafka's concerns were spiritual, theological, and quotidian -- he had more doubts than certainty, but was a seeker.
Musically, the closest parallel clearly seems to be PIERROT LUNAIRE, though Kurtag's single biggest musical influence is Webern. I find it strangely compelling. It is certainly one of Kurtag's masterpieces, and in fact I would say it is a masterpiece of the late 20th century. While there is some variation, overall the mood is full of angst and hints of tragedy. The atonal music does not convey the depth and range of emotion attributed to the work by some writers. Here are some sample lyrics (it's sung in German, but ECM's excellent 46-page booklet provides English translations): "Slept, woke, slept, woke, miserable life" "The true path goes by way of a rope that is suspended not high up, but rather just above the ground. Its purpose seems to be more to make one stumble than to be walked on." "There is a destination, but no path to it; what we call a path is hesitation." "The moonlit night dazzled us. Birds shrieked in the trees. There was a rush of wind in the fields. We crawled through the dust, a pair of snakes." "On the stock of Balzac's walking-stick: 'I surmount all obstacles.' On mine: 'All obstacles surmount me.' They have that 'all' in common." This was the third of what are now four recordings of KAFKA-FRAGMENTE, which was written in 1985-6. The first, recorded for the Hungaroton label, featured Adrienne Csengery and Andras Keller on violin. The second recording was by the Finnish Ondine label, featuring the young Finnish couple Anu Komsi, soprano, and Sakari Oramo on violin. The recording, in August 1995, was the only one of the four to date not supervised by the composer. This third recording by ECM took place ten years later in September 2005, and was released to celebrate the composer's 80th birthday in 2006. Most recently the cycle has been recorded as a 2009 CD/DVD combination for Bridge records. The Bridge recording features Tony Arnold's soprano and Movses Pogossian on violin, and the DVD includes a performance as well as a clip of Kurtag coaching the performers. I was sure a Dawn Upshaw recording was in the works at one point, as she sang the KAFKA-FRAGMENTE in January of 2005 in NYC with Geoff Nuttall on violin in a dramatic performance with staging by Peter Sellars, doing housework, with black-and-white photo projections. But that has not materialized. This ECM recording is probably the most accessible at this point, and it is a fine performance and recording. But I still have great fondness for the Ondine, which I heard first. Komsi's soprano is more pure and thin than Banse, and the Ondine production is brighter, with the musicians foregrounded, and without the deep resonance that famously characterizes Manfred Eicher's ECM productions. Banse and Keller are superb, but I wouldn't want to be without the Ondine recording! (verified purchase from a large brick-and-mortar chain bookstore)
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As Fine a Performance as Any Available,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: György Kurtág: Kafka-Fragmente (Audio CD)
György Kurtág's op. 24, 'Kafka-Fragmente' is as fine a way to become familiar with this contemporary Hungarian genius' work as any. Though he rarely repeats a concept in his work despite the fact that his music is now in the 'instantly recognizable' zone, this 1985-86 composition for violin and soprano holds moments of timbre and sonority - if that word can be used for atonal music! - that rise out of the mysteries of creation that cover his career. The composition is unique in that it depends solely on the ability of a soprano to accept the partnership of one instrument as accompaniment. But writing that statement immediately calls for a retraction: the soprano and the violin each hold equal value in these fragments from Franz Kafka's bizarre diaries. The ability of the violin to spread a pitch cluster over several strings invites the soprano to do the same - not necessarily of the sprechstimme quality but finding that inner place between two pitches that has yet to resolve in either direction. At times the violin dances and the voice dances, at other times the violin sans vibrato mourns and the voice groans and pleads. There are moments of snap and humor that are close to the Orientale sound: there are moments so mysterious that they seem to emerge from some other space unknown to anyone but the composer.
Kurtag's Kafka Fragments is broken into forty brief settings and organized in four sections. The central motif is "the path". Kurtág goes to the very limits of what is technically possible, placing great demands on the voice and the violins, which cover a huge expressive range. The performances here by Juliane Banse, soprano, and Andras Keller, violin, are virtuosic. Both of these artists achieve the unachievable: they make this work sound simple to perform! Banse's voice is rich, like satin when she wishes it so and like a crisp penetrating dagger when the words call for that sound. Keller is inordinately expressive and his tone never is less than sure and beautiful, even when stretched by Kurtág's demands. This is music to live with in order to appreciate the richness of the score and the diligence of the performance. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 10
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