The first new album by Kurtg in six years is a major event. Kurtg was always a master of the miniature - no tone or texture, no grain of sound is wasted - but now his work is more concentrated than ever. The work on "Signs, Games and Messages" represents a pinnacle of Kurtg's art of achieving the ultimate in expression by the most minimal of means. The album is comprised of settings of Hlderlin (and Paul Celan) in the "Hlderlin-Gesnge", sung by Kurt Widmer, and of Beckett (and Sbastien Chamfort) in " ... pas pas nulle part ...", sung by Widmer with string trio and percussion. The two song cycles are linked by the work-in-progress that gives the album its title: "Signs, Games and Messages" for strings. The three cycles recorded here and to which the distinguished interpreters gave years of intense collaboration comprise between them a total of 59 tracks, only one of which goes beyond three minutes in duration. More than any composer before him, Kurtg has mastered the art of the expressive musical aphorism or, as he self-deprecatingly puts it, "making music out of almost nothing." But as England's The Guardian said, "A whole world of expression and suggestion can be packed into these exquisite, crystalline forms." FEATURED ARTISTS Kurt Widmer: Baritone Orlando Trio Hiromi Kikuchi: Violin Ken Hakii: Viola Stefan Metz: Cello Mircea Ardeleanu: Percussion Heinrich Huber: Trombone David LeClair: Tuba