If any contemporary composer can persuade the musical world that compositions of between 30 seconds and four minutes in length are the natural vehicle for progressive post-tonal music, that composer is Kurtág. This sequence of pieces, the longest of which lasts just over five minutes, offers a very special experience.
The disc contains a selection from his ongoing sequence of 'games' (Játékok) for solo piano and piano duet. They're a mixture of studies and tributes, not explicitly pedagogic in Mikrokosmos mode, but ranging widely in technical demands and style, from fugitive fragments, in which even the smallest element tells, to the extraordinary flamboyance of a Perpetuummobile containing nothing but glissandos. Most are sombre in tone, and even the more humorous items have a bitter side. For access to another musical world, Kurtág has included four Bach transcriptions, music whose serenity and confidence speaks immediately of utter remoteness from the real present. The performances risk overprojection but they're supremely characterful, and the close-up recording reinforces the impression of music that's mesmerically persuasive in its imagination and expressiveness.