Commissioned by Count Erdődy, Joseph Haydn’s six Quartets op. 76 are today among his most frequently performed and most important. No. 5 stands out as the most unconventional work of the set.
A defining feature of György Kurtág’s music is its concentrated brevity, which links him to his model Anton Webern. His «Officium breve in memoriam Andreae Szervánszky» (op. 28, 1988/89) refers through quotations and allusions to Webern and to Endre Szervánszky (1911-1977), the first Hungarian composer to engage intensively with Webern’s technique. From Webern, Kurtág takes the closing double canon of the Cantata No. 2, op. 31; from Szervánszky, material from his Serenade for String Orchestra (1947).
The work consists of 15 short movements, some of them running without a break, with a total duration of less than a quarter of an hour. Again and again, the sustained sound of the “Sostenuto” asserts itself. The final movement quotes Szervánszky’s tonal music directly, but breaks off after twelve bars, in the middle of a phrase. The result, as so often with Kurtág, is a dense web of musical and personal relationships.
Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet op. 74 stands between two other works in E-flat major: the brilliant “Emperor” Concerto and the more inward-looking Piano Trio op. 70 No. 2. It moves between these two worlds, combining great dramatic energy with moments of intimacy.
