Recording a complete edition of György Kurtág's Játékok is no small undertaking: the combined eight volumes comprise myriad pieces of often extreme brevity, with the range of expression traversed similarly all-encompassing.
This is music which is poised between the discipline of an exercise and spontaneity of a whim: 'Games' played out as a fruitful interchange between technique and inspiration. A previous recording covered the first four volumes, and the most pleasurable way to encounter this music has hitherto been through the miscellany from György and Márta Kurtág (ECM). Both make brief appearances here, along with other Kurtág protegés, but the bulk of the enterprise is entrusted to Gábor Csalog, his dexterous pianism and scrupulous attention to dynamic nuance being vital components in the success of the disc. The 58 individual pieces are arranged into two parts – 34 and 31 minutes each – that together offer a conspectus of the conceptual and emotional territory explored by this music: a diary in sound with no obvious parallels in its stark directness and vehement honesty.
Newcomers could profitably sample an insouciant 'Prelude and Fugue in C' (No 5), the contemplative 'Hommage à Ferenc Berényi' (29), the rediscovery of sound in 'Fundamentals' (44), or a serene rendering of the BWV106 Sinfonia – one of numerous Bach transcriptions that can be integrated into the selection. Vividly realistic sound and pertinent notes, as always from BMC.
Further discs are planned, and the complete edition should soon be available for download: iPod-friendly Kurtág could prove a whole new listening experience.

The wit and invention come across vividly in these performances, largely by Gábor Csalog, but with help from others, including András Kemenes as well as the composer and his wife playing a muted "pianino", which I take to mean a traditional upright...It is all strange and often other-worldly, but captivating, too.