Renowned Hungarian composer György Kurtág celebrated his 99th birthday on Wednesday, with the release of a new album featuring baritone Benjamin Appl.
The album, titled Lines of Life, also features performances from Pierre-Laurent Aimard and James Baillieu. Released by Alpha Classics, it juxtaposes Kurtág’s aphoristic songs with Lieder by Schubert and Brahms.
“Benjamin first came to me for the Hölderlin-Gesänge in 2018,” Kurtág said, “and then we started working on other songs. On this recording you can hear everything that a solo baritone or a baritone and piano can perform. We chose most of Schubert's songs and the Sonntag by Brahms because of my memories of Márta.”
Kurtág enjoyed a close musical relationship with his wife Márta, who died in 2019, performing together as a four-hand piano duet. Asked what qualities he looks for in a singer, Kurtág said: “For me, real singing is my late wife Márta’s dark silver voice from her youth and the way she sang… It is not the tradition that is really important to me, but the lyrics of each song and the memories and feelings I have associated with them.”
Kurtág was born only a couple of years after his great Hungarian compatriot, György Ligeti. They maintained a close friendship throughout their lives, with Kurtág dedicating an ensemble to Ligeti for his centenary in 2023.
Kurtág’s opera Fin de partie is based on Samuel Beckett play Endgame that Kurtág first saw on Ligeti’s instigation. It was given its staged premiere in Milan 2018, and a second production was recently staged at Vienna State Opera in 2024.
Reflecting on entering his 100th year, Kurtág said: “Music fills my everyday life. I still read literature and everything else that interests me, I also compose and teach, but somehow everything always revolves around music. Since my hearing deteriorated, I have been reading a lot of scores, because now I can only really hear the music, from the inside, by reading it.”
