Of these thirty, ten are four-handed works played by both Kurtágs, while husband and wife share piano duty on the twenty two-handed works. Many of the original works are very short, with eighteen clocking in at under a minute, and half of these under forty seconds. This inevitably means that some--though not all--of the very short works are distinctly slight, though this is compensated for by the inclusion of more substantial achievements such as Präludium und Choral, Hommage ŕ Christian Wolff, Glocken and Aus der Ferne. Stylistically, these compositions range widely and eclectically: Webernian-sounding miniatures rub shoulders with constructivist atonality, bizarre flights of whimsy and even evocations of folk music and long-dead composers. Nonetheless, the works here that leave me with the strongest impression are the four Bach transcriptions, whose contrapuntal clarity, fidelity to the original and sheer joy remind me of Busoni.
This doesn't strike me as an essential Kurtág disc, at least in part because I tend to find the Játékok pieces work best in smaller doses than 50 minutes. In addition, some of then are probably more fun to play than to listen to. Nonetheless, fans of the composer will want to hear this selection--particularly in such authoritative performances--but newcomers would do better with the Keller Quartet's stunning string quartet collection (also on ECM).
