Kurtág's Játékok: Playing Games with Tradition
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Date
2014-12-07
Authors
Coelho, Gabriel Neves
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
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.
Description
150 pages
Keywords
György Kurtág, Musical games, Piano performance