Signs, Games and Messages. Maurizio Barbetti (viola) Mode mode 230 *****

Is György Kurtág a François Couperin of the 20th and 21st centuries, composing clearly titled character pieces, often associated with the personality of a particular friend? Or is the 85-year-old Hungarian a latter-day Webern with a knack for compressing potent expression into the briefest of musical morsels? Well, he's both, and also, as Nicola Sani's note for this new CD puts it, a man whose output can be viewed as "a unique, great fresco composed of completed fragments". Kurtág has arrived at a point where anything from a simple gesture or a passing thought to the recollection of a most deeply felt loss can be encompassed with haiku-like economy. Signs, Games and Messagesis a series of string pieces, for both solo instruments and ensembles, begun in 1989. Maurizio Barbetti plays the solo viola pieces with alert responsiveness. See url.ie/8b2u