Recollections of the teaching of György Kurtág

How did you come into contact with György Kurtág? When did you work together, when did he teach you? 

I collaborated with György Kurtág for the first time as a member of Classicus Quartet in 2019, in the days/weeks following Márta Kurtág’s passing, in preparation for Márta’s memorial concert in the BMC Library. We were working on the Lento assai… movement of the Op. 135 String Quartet in F major by Beethoven and the Adagio ma non troppo movement of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor.

What does György Kurtág’s art and teaching mean to you and how has it influenced your career?

Kurtág’s mentality and attitude towards music had a powerful impact on me from the very beginning of our first meeting. His intense concentration and his ambition for a deeper understanding of musical compositions and phenomena keeps on inspiring me up to this day. His commitment, devotion and uncompromising attitude towards music and arts has a major mark upon my mindset. What fascinates me in his art is that he conveys essential matters imbued with the most powerful expression and deepest feelings. He made me understand for the first time that it was possible to evoke an infinite world within the connection of two notes. Also, his uncompromising attitude, going out of his way to to provide boundless energies for work will always encourage a deeper and more truthful comprehension.

If you can, please recall a memorable situation and how he taught certain musical works and what you learned from him during your collaboration! 

I found it unforgettable when, in preparation for Márta Kurtág’s memorial, we listened to the slow movement of the Op. 135 String Quartet in F major by Beethoven in the interpretation of the Alban Berg String Quartett. Kurtág maintained that the recording was the benchmark, however, while listening to it together he kept mentioning what he was missing from it, what he couldn’t hear. In other words, what could make it even better. That was an interesting experience for me, opening up new ways in my thinking.

Another personal and memorable “shared experience” for me was when I was writing my doctoral thesis in the BMC Library in August 2023. All of a sudden, Kurtág appeared and spent the whole morning composing by the upright piano. It was enthralling to get involved in such a situation, to experience his creative process.