Kafka Fragments

György Kurtág is one of the most important composers of our time, and his Kafka Fragments of 1985–87 is a truly iconic 20th-century work. Kurtág described himself creating this cycle of 40 songs, many of which are just 30 seconds long, as hooked, ‘like a little boy nibbling at forbidden sweets’. To hear this astonishing work for voice and violin, we could not hope for two better exponents than Claire Booth and Tamsin Waley-Cohen, nor a more atmospheric setting than the candle-lit 15th-century chapel of New College.