School of Music and Dance Capstones and Terminal Projects

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1794/12943

Browse

Browsing School of Music and Dance Capstones and Terminal Projects by Author "Coelho, Gabriel Neves"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Kurtág's Játékok: Playing Games with Tradition
    (University of Oregon, 2014-12-07) Coelho, Gabriel Neves;
    This study approaches the compilation of piano pieces known under the general title Játékok (or Games), which was written by the Hungarian composer György Kurtág. Started in 1973, the set reflects the political context of Hungary under Soviet domination, as well as its posterior dissolution, also revealing the composer’s sensitivity and openness to create in a moment of historical and aesthetic transition. In analyzing how the collection achieved a synthesis between the radical experiments of the avant-garde and the canonic repertoire, it focus on the cultural symbols he manipulates within his music, juxtaposing elements from several layers of tradition. The concept of musical games unfolds in different ways. They can be analyzed as performative games, in which ‘playing’ is interpreted as the more obvious act of performing the pieces, but also related to the idea of ‘playfulness’, therefore treating the piano almost as a toy, exploring all possibilities of movement. Another even larger group is represented by those pieces treated as compositional and/or cultural games. Here, the composer is ‘playing’ with tradition, alluding to other composers, artists and historical practices, and by consequence also relocating the cultural meaning embedded in those borrowings. This research concludes focusing on the private games, in which people, colleagues and facts from the composer’s personal life stimulate his own composition. The last section analyses the process of transmutation from a pedagogical series to the increasing exposure of his private world and frequent references to loss, identifying certain recurrent patterns occurring already in the first volumes.