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Special offer. Kurtág: Játékok

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

Kurtág: Játékok

Awards:

At the age of 99 he no longer has the manual dexterity to play his own music, simple though it sounds. Hence the presence of Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the keyboard, a man who has spent four decades...

BBC Music Magazine, July 20255 out of 5 stars

More reviews

Special offer. Kurtág: Játékok

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

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2 CDs

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Awards:

At the age of 99 he no longer has the manual dexterity to play his own music, simple though it sounds. Hence the presence of Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the keyboard, a man who has spent four decades...

BBC Music Magazine, July 20255 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

Star pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard presents an anthology from György Kurtág’s Játékok (Games), recorded in the composer’s presence and under his artistic guidance. In his extensive series of Játékok, Kurtág realizes the spontaneity of a child exploring the piano with the compositional means of his adventurous, avant-garde idiom. Recording such an extensive collection of Játékok is an important statement for Aimard, who has developed an intimate artistic friendship with the composer over decades.

  • Release date: 2nd May 2025
  • Label: Pentatone
  • Catalogue number: PTC5187030
  • Length: 2 hours 5 minutes

Contents and tracklist

Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book I
Work length3:30
No. 1b, Prelude and Waltz in C
Track length0:37
No. 3a, Flowers We Are, Frail Flowers
Track length0:27
No. 3b, Flowers We Are, Frail Flowers
Track length0:24
No. 9a, The Bunny and the Fox
Track length0:32
No. 17a, Falling Asleep
Track length0:51
No. 17b, Flowers We Are
Track length0:39
Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book II
Work length4:21
No. 2, Hommage à Jeney (Phone numbers of our loved ones 1)
Track length0:54
No. 4, Hommage à Vidovszky (Phone numbers of our loved ones 2)
Track length1:24
No. 5, Quarrelling
Track length0:23
No. 28, Fifths (3)
Track length0:25
No. 29, (bunny rabbit in the grass)
Track length0:17
No. 43, Antiphony in f-sharp
Track length0:58
Excerpt,Kurtág: Játékok, Book III
Work length8:46
No. 1, Stop and Go
Track length0:43
No. 2, Play with Infinity
Track length0:39
No. 4, (thus it happened)
Track length1:23
No. 25, Hommage à Farkas Ferenc (2) Scraps of a colinda melody.- faintly recollected
Track length2:22
No. 26, Hommage à Farkas Ferenc (3) (evocation of Petrushka)
Track length0:57
No. 30, Dirge (2)
Track length0:47
No. 31, Hommage à Christian Wolff (Half-asleep)
Track length1:04
No. 39, Hommage à Kurtág Márta
Track length0:51
Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book V
Work length8:16
No. 6, A voice in the Distance (for Alfred Schlee's 80th birthday)
Track length1:33
No. 7, La fille aux cheveux de lin - enragée
Track length1:33
No. 12, Preface to a Bálint exhibition
Track length1:15
No. 39, Dialog for the 70th birthday of András Mihály (or: how can one answer to the same 4 sounds with only 3)
Track length1:33
No. 42, In memoriam György Szoltsányi
Track length2:22
Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book VI
Work length21:28
No. 4, For Dóra Antal's Birthday (1st version)
Track length1:14
No. 6, Versetto: Temptavit Deus Abraham (apocryphal organum)
Track length0:34
No. 7, Versetto: Consurrexit Cain adversus fratrem suum…
Track length0:37
Versetto: Dixit Dominus ad Noe: finis universe cranes venit…
Track length0:58
Sirens of the Deluge —Waiting for Noah
Track length0:35
No. 14, Päan
Track length1:19
No. 28, Les Adieux (in Janaček Manier)
Track length1:58
No. 30, András Hajdú is 60!
Track length1:19
No. 32, In memoriam Tibor Szeszler
Track length1:26
No. 33, Birthday Elegy for Judit - for the second finger of her left hand
Track length1:27
No. 34, Doina
Track length2:24
No. 39, …waiting for Susan…
Track length1:19
No. 42, In memoriam Ernö Lendvai
Track length0:55
No. 44, Lines for Zsuzsa Sirokay
Track length1:39
No. 47, Face to face — Demény János in memoriam
Track length0:38
No. 50, In memoriam András Mihály
Track length3:06
Excerpt,Kurtág: Játékok, Book VII
Work length31:03
No. 2, For Georg Kröll's birthday
Track length1:13
No. 6, …and once again: Shadow-play…
Track length1:12
No. 9, Aus der Ferne IV - Hommage à Alfred Schlee 95
Track length1:49
No. 10, All'ongherese — Hommage à Gösta Neuwirth 60
Track length1:32
No. 16, Roaming in the Past — Ligatura for Ligeti
Track length2:22
No. 17, Hommage à Berényi Ferenc 70
Track length3:34
No. 20, In memoriam Ilona Rozsnyai
Track length2:34
No. 23, Hommage à Hanny Brunner-Pohl
Track length3:00
No. 24, *** (I'm talking to my mother about Márta)
Track length3:17
No. 26, Flowers We Are... to Mijako
Track length1:07
No. 27, Hommage à Beatrice Stein
Track length1:48
No. 29, ...Memories, Little Tin Soldiers... To Martha, for October 1st, 2000
Track length1:26
No. 30, In memoriam Johan van der Keuken
Track length2:45
No. 31, Rodica lui Ionescu —To Martha, for October 1st, 2001 (pianino)
Track length3:24
Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book IX
Work length19:00
No. 1, ... apple blossom … (pianino)
Track length1:17
No. 5, Quiet dialogue — To Árpád Göncz with much love, friendship and respect
Track length2:08
No. 6, Medal — In memoriam Lajos Hernádi
Track length1:20
No. 7, ...jubilate…
Track length0:57
No. 8, Hommage à Georg Kröll 70
Track length2:03
No. 9, Hommage à Jehuda Elkana 70
Track length2:02
No. 19, Second Strictly Personal Letter to András Szőllősy on his 85th Birthday
Track length1:22
No. 20, To András Wilheim
Track length1:39
No. 22, Kedves Kett(d)ö — to Márta on reaching
Track length2:24
No. 23, Rituale - Kálmán Strém in memoriam
Track length3:48
Excerpt,Kurtág: Jatekok (Games), Book X
Work length9:53
No. 22, ...and yet another letter to Péter Eötvös...
Track length1:30
No. 27, in memoriam Emil Petrovics
Track length2:12
No. 29, Dialogue - Bálint Varga 70
Track length1:24
No. 30, A window on the corridor ... 1st October, 1946, Damjanich street 18
Track length1:46
No. 32, ...just so...
Track length1:40
No. 33, A Sketch Leaf (rough-raw)
Track length1:21
Excerpt,Kurtág: Játékok, in manuscript, the publication of Book XI is in progress
Work length18:48
Ligatura dolce - amara - amara dolce — to Márta
Track length2:53
...für Heinz... 2 / 2 / 2014
Track length1:02
...wie soll ich... —to Márta for 1st October 30 / 9 / 2014
Track length2:30
Passio sine nomine 26 / 3 / 2015
Track length2:12
...le chien... to Gyuri for his 66th from his father 13 / 10 / 2020
Track length2:03
Márta's Ligature (pianino) 13 / 11 / 2020
Track length1:37
A la mémoire de Marcel Beccaccia 27 / 11 / 2020
Track length1:34
In memoriam Anna Holliger 21 / 6 / 2021 (pianino)
Track length1:42
For Bea, in her deep sorrow 26 / 3 / 2021 (pianino)
Track length1:22
Farewell — ...to My Dear Friend András Wilheim 25 / 1 / 2022 (pianino)
Track length1:53

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

  • BBC Music Magazine
    July 2025
    Recording of the Month
  • The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year
    2025
  • The Times
    Best Classical Albums of 2025

July 2025

At the age of 99 he no longer has the manual dexterity to play his own music, simple though it sounds. Hence the presence of Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the keyboard, a man who has spent four decades studying with Kurtág, and whose playing bears the master’s wholehearted imprimatur.
5 out of 5 stars

June 2025

In closely focused sound, occasionally making use of Kurtág’s own battered upright piano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has no difficulty in conveying affection, austerity and the wealth of diverse emotions that come between these extremes.

Whole worlds of expression are encapsulated in just a few bars, and listening to Aimard's exemplary performances provides as important an insight into Kurtág's very personal musical thinking as any of his larger-scale, more "public" pieces. …Aimard is the perfect guide…
5 out of 5 stars

16th December 2025

Not a single note is wasted in the concentrated solo piano miniatures of Jatekok (Games), a landmark series the 99-year-old Hungarian composer began in 1973 and is still adding to. The pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is an ideal guide.
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