György Kurtág - 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13 (Hommage à Mihály András)(1978)

Kurtág György (*1926) - 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13 (Hommage à Mihály András) 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13 (Hommage à Mihály András) by György Kurtág © 1979 by Editio Musica Budapest Zenemukiadó Disclaimer: This video is just for promotion, and not for profit. I hold no right to the picture on the video nor the music itself. All rights reserved for the composer and the publisher. Please write me a direct message if you have complaints about this upload concerning copyright issues. In that case, I will delete the video immediately. email: [email protected] From the Library of the Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 2000 Keller String Quartet András Keller, violin János Pilz, violin Zoltán Gál, viola Judit Szabó, cello Original performance available here:    • György Kurtág - 12 Microludes for String Q...   0:00 György Kurtág - 12 Microludes for String Quartet, Op. 13 (Hommage à Mihály András) 0:04 1. (semibreve = 20) 0:50 2. (quasi allegretto, semibreve = 60~80) 1:18 3. (crotchet = 125~115) 1:48 4. Presto (dotted quaver = 144~152) 2:05 5. Lontano, calmo, appena sentito (Far away, calm, and barely heard) 4:17 6. (semibreve = 20~30) 5:30 7. [no tempo indication] 6:02 8. Con slancio (With momentum) 6:21 9. (crotchet = 126~132) 7:18 10. Molto agitato/Più presto (semiquaver = 380~400) 7:57 11. (semibreve = 20) 9:10 12. Leggiero, con moto, non dolce (Lightly, with motion, but not softly) The Op. 13 Microludes were written as a tribute to Kurtág’s friend Mihály András on the occasion of his 60th birthday. András was a composer and conductor and was involved in performances of many of Kurtág’s earlier works. Kurtág had written an earlier homage to András for solo piano that incorporated a theme from András’s Cello Concerto; the Op. 13 pieces do not contain such an overt reference to his friend’s music. The term “Microlude” is an invention of Kurtág’s; literally translated from the Latin roots of the term it means “little game”. Kurtág anchors the 12 Microludes by basing each consecutive movement on one of the notes of the scale; each movement is based on the next note in an ascending chromatic sequence as the piece progresses. There is an obvious reference to Webern’s Op. 9 Bagatelles but one also hears folk elements of the Bartók quartets in the music. Each Microlude is extremely brief and the set explores an extremely diverse set of characters: examples of this are movements ranging from extreme stillness to “molto agitato”. Kurtág’s collections of musical games and homages serve as a personal journal of sorts, and one can surmise that, because of the range of expression explored in the 12 Microludes, Mihály András was a trusted colleague who helped Kurtág explore the many aspects of his creative self. (Daniel Doña)