Lines of Life

Benjamin Appl met the Hungarian composer György Kurtág, who turned 100 in February this year, in 2019 and has worked with him ever since. About his recent recording of songs by Kurtág and Schubert, he wrote that Kurtág has ‘shaped me both as a musician and as a human being, perhaps more than anyone else’, and that the programme gives listeners ‘a glimpse into the infinite universe of György Kurtág, a shy procrastinator, stern self-critic, hesitant researcher, introverted questioner, unpretentious intellectual, brilliant composer and an extraordinary human being.’ The programme includes Kurtág’s settings of Friedrich Hölderlin, as well as songs by Schubert.