KURTAG: Kafka Fragments [TrackList below] – Tony Arnold, soprano/ Movses Pogossian, violin – Bridge CD + DVD 9270/B, 61:07 ****:
Performers: Tony Arnold, soprano/ Movses Pogossian, violin
Studio: Bridge 9270/A, Komitas Recital Hall, Yerevan, Armenia [Distr. by Albany]
Producer: David Starobin
Video: 4:3 Color
Audio: PCM Stereo
Region Code: All regions
Length: 1:15:52 Minutes; Live Concert and Master class
Rating: ***1/2
This is actually a DVD/CD combo box packaged in a DVD-style container, but I am listing it as a CD first because that version is the most listener-friendly. Chronologically, the master class with Kurtag takes place first (6/2004) followed by the CD recording (8/2004) and then the live DVD taping in Armenia (9/2006). The master class is very interesting in that it shows how involved the composer is with this piece, down to minutiae that will prove surprising to a lot of people. I found it informative and enlightening. The DVD taping is plagued by some extraneous sounds and what could be air conditioning noise. Though it gives a fine visual example of how difficult this music is, as a performance it is not what most people will be returning to.
The CD has to compete with the existing ECM release with Juliane Banse (sop.) and András Keller (vn.), a release done for the 80th birthday of the composer and supervised by him. It has garnered much critical praise, deservedly so, despite the somewhat resonant acoustic. There is also a Hungaroton recording with Adrienne Csengery (sop.) and András Keller (vn.) from 1995 that retains the affections of many, though my guess is that the ECM or this new Bridge reading will supplant it.
At any rate, Kurtag’s opus—probably his greatest piece—now has three excellent recordings, two of which have been essentially given the stamp of approval by the composer. This piece, really a song cycle based on fragments from the ever gritty existential atheist Franz Kafka, is a tough nut to crack for first time hearers. The language is dissonant, linear, and highly expressionistic, though familiarity with the words does make it easier to apprehend the composer’s sometimes easy to hear allusions and aural descriptions. He is in no way obtuse in trying to hide the many obvious musical portraits of the things and emotions present (or perceived) in Kafka’s texts, but make s hefty stab at the most blatant kind of interpretative nuances possible. Take Part 1, No. 1 for an example, “The Good March in Step…” One cannot get around the obvious march found in the repetitions of the violin part. This is just one example of how he paints these fragments. The challenge is not so much trying to discover an esoteric portraiture in this music but rather the intensity of the expression, almost always over the top (even in its more sedate moments) in order to magnify the verbal meaning of the words. There are great rewards to be found in hearing this music repeatedly, though I for one would be most understanding if anyone comes away from this admiring it more than liking it.
Soprano Tony Arnold throws herself into these performances, and certainly seems moved by this music. Violinist Pogossian plays the devil out of what has to be an enormously bearish piece, though obviously written in an idiomatic manner. If you have the ECM I would sit tight. If not, either of the releases will prove rewarding, with the bonus of the DVD perhaps tipping the scale.
— Steven Ritter
TrackList:
1. Part 1. Die Guten gehn im gleichen Schritt…
2. Part 1. Wie ein Weg im Herbst
3. Part 1. Verstecke
4. Part 1. Ruhelos
5. Part 1. Berceuse I
6. Part 1. Nimmermehr (Excommunicatio)
7. Part 1. "Wenn er mich immer frägt"8. Part 1. Es zupfte mich jemand am Kleid
9. Part 1. Die Weissnäherinnnen
10. Part 1. Szene am Bahnhof
11. Part 1. Sonntag, den 19. Juli 1910 (Berceuse II)
12. Part 1. Meine Ohrmuschel…
13. Part 1. Einmal brach ich mir das Bein (Chassidischer Tanz)
14. Part 1. Umpanzert
15. Part 1. Zwei Spazierstöcke (Authentisch-Plagal)
16. Part 1. Keine Rückkehr
17. Part 1. Stolz (1910/15. November zehn Uhr)
18. Part 1. Träumend hind die Blume (Hommage à Schumann)
19. Part 1. Nichts dergleichen
20. Part 2. Der wahre Weg (Hommage-message à Pierre Boulez)
21. Part 3. Haben? Sein?
22. Part 3. Der Coitus als Bestrafung
23. Part 3. Meine Gefägnisszelle
24. Part 3. Schmutzig bin ich, Milena…
25. Part 3. Elendes Leben (Double)
26. Part 3. Der begrenzte Kreis
27. Part 3. Ziel, Weg, Zögern
28. Part 3. So fest
29. Part 3. Penetrant jüdisch
30. Part 3. Verstecke (Double)
31. Part 3. Staunend sahen wir das Grosse Pferd
32. Part 3. Szene in der Elektrischen /1910: "Ich bat im Traum die Tänzerin Eduardowa, sie möchte doch
33. Part 4. Zu spät (22. Oktober 1913)
34. Part 4. Eine lange Geschichte
35. Part 4. In memoriam Robert Klein
36. Part 4. Aus einem alten Notizbuch
37. Part 4. Leoparden
38. Part 4. In memoriam Joannis Pilinszky
39. Part 4. Wiederum, wiederum
40. Part 4. Es blendete uns die Mondnacht
