Games X

The piano series entitled Games, written from 1973 onwards, was conceived as a piano method. As the years went by, the series lost its didactic character, and it came to be seen as a document from Kurtag's workshop, offering a key to his grander symphonic, chamber and vocal works as well.

Tenth volume is divided into two parts: In the first half, earlier, hitherto unpublished pieces line up from Suite, written in 1943,to the 1980s, providing insight into the development of Kurtag's musical language. The second half includes pieces composed between 2002 and 2011. The movements, often aphorismic in their briefness, hide associations with various aspects of European music history. Many of them are hommage or in memoriam pieces, or subjective personal messages to friends, colleagues, and beloved family members - and thereby to all music-loving people. This publication is printed on high quality, durable paper made from renewable raw materials in an environmentally friendly way.