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Leaf Music5
György Kurtág: Játékok
Brigitte Poulin, piano
Leaf Music, 2025
Játékok is one of György Kurtág’s most ambitious projects. The Hungarian composer, who will soon be 100, began the work in 1973, but has never really finished it. In 2017 and later in 2020, he added new pieces to what is now an impressive collection of miniatures in 10 volumes. In the tradition of Robert Schumann’s similar set of short solo piano works, Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Kurtág revisits the theme of childhood and creates a wide musical panorama with little hints at the idea of games (játékok in Hungarian).
For her new solo album on Leaf Music, pianist Brigitte Poulin has drawn mainly from the third, ninth and 10th volumes with frequent jumps among them. In her liner notes she explains that she wanted to create a narrative in five acts, based on the title of each of the selected pieces. The album starts with a representation of heaven and hell. This might seem like a rather abstract concept to convey, but by concentrating on the piano’s acoustics with an abundant use of the loud pedal, Poulin lends Kurtág’s music an unreal feeling, as if cut off from the terrestrial world.
The hallmark of Játékok are the elements of surprise they contain, and Poulin conveys all of this well: breaks in the rhythm, silences, precise attacks, highlighting energetic patterns, and nuance in its subtle variations. It all seems animated by a childish spirit in the best sense of the term. There’s innocence, impulsiveness and rebellion against social norms, matching a musical language that oversteps the bounds of tonal writing. In short, a brilliantly executed album revealing the intentions of the composer, especially his quest for a musical ideal.
Translation: Cecilia Grayson
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