PENTATONE releases Kurtág: Játékok, featuring Pierre-Laurent Aimard, in May 2025.
A Playful Avant-Garde Adventure
Star pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard presents an anthology from György Kurtág’s Játékok (Games), recorded in the composer’s presence and under his artistic guidance. In his extensive series of Játékok, Kurtág realizes the spontaneity of a child exploring the piano with the compositional means of his adventurous, avant-garde idiom. Recording such an extensive collection of Játékok is an important statement for Aimard, who has developed an intimate artistic friendship with the composer over decades.
A renowned champion of twentieth-century music, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has released multiple acclaimed albums in his exclusive contract with PENTATONE, including Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018) and Visions de l’Amen (2022), along with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata & Eroica Variations (2021). He also joined Tamara Stefanovich in Etudes and Frames (2023), with music by Vassos Nicolaou, and recorded Bartók’s Piano Concertos with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen (2023). The miniature nature of Kurtág’s Játékok makes them an unexpected, yet logical successor of Aimard’s acclaimed album Schubert Ländler (2024), which consisted of dances that the pianist often combines with Kurtág’s short pieces in live performances.
“I was introduced to him during the winter of 1978. The first meeting, at his Budapest home, ended with an interminable silence on both sides. To finally break the ice – or rather the timidity — he invited me to join him at the piano. That’s when I discovered “my” first Játékok, deciphering them playing four hands with him. A few years later, I became part of a close-knit group of accomplice listeners who, at night in Paris, would keep him company while he secretly recorded, with Márta, his wife and his closest interpreter, the Játékok for two and four hands.”
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Digital Release Date: 2 MAY 2025
Physical Release: MAY 2025
Released as a 2 standard CDs and in digital formats for streaming and high-resolution downloads.
