Kurt Widmer, Mircea Ardeleanu - Gyorgy Kurtag: Signs, Games, and Messages (2003)

György Kurtág's small output is unlikely to increase much in the future since he has come to regard his compositions as works in progress, to be reworked according to need. His Hölderlin-Gesänge is just such an open-ended piece and exists in several versions. The six songs extracted here are unsettling in their extremes. Kurt Widmer's soft singing in An...and Im Walde evokes isolation, but this mood is violently interrupted by the trombone and tuba blasts in Gestalt und Geist, played respectively by Heinrich Huber and David LeClair. Unaccompanied singing returns in the remaining songs, but their extended vocal techniques continue the sense of uneasiness. Nineteen short movements make up this performance of Signs, Games and Messages. These brief sections demand the listener's close attention, for the work may otherwise seem like a catalog of random effects. The Orlando Trio plays with precision and energy, but the music may still seem gnomic in spite of its valiant efforts. By far the most theatrical piece, ...Pas à pas -- nulle part... employs baritone, string trio, and several percussion instruments. Often spare and sometimes beautiful in its combinations, the work nevertheless has great potential to shock. Widmer, the Orlando Trio, and percussionist Mircea Ardeleanu deliver a compelling performance full of intensity and extraordinary color.