CD ECM Records Juliane Banse, Andras Keller - Gyorgy Kurtag: Kafka-Fragmente

2006

Juliane Banse - soprana
Andras Keller - vioara

Gyorgy Kurtag: Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24

Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik - Bestenliste 2/2006

The hour-long Kafka-Fragments, completed in 1986, is his biggest work to date: it’s a characteristic cycle of 40 tiny movements, scored for soprano voice and violin, that adds up to something far greater than the sum of its parts. The text is a mosaic of quotations from Kafka’s writings, diaries and letters. The cycle is divided into four parts, articulated by the two longest movements; they draw a huge range of expression from soprano Juliane Banse and violinist András Keller. Banse’s nuances of vocal colouring are wonderfully subtle, while Keller can conjure up huge intensity from a single musical gesture. They show Kafka Fragments to be a quiet masterpiece of richness and emotional power.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian

Superbly performed by Juliane Banse and András Keller, each of whom can find a world of meaning in a single note, the work’s four sections build a musical mosaic as vivid and telling as the work of the great novelist to whom it pays homage.
Anthony Holden, The Observer