Four hands, two hearts

April 15, 2016 11:10 PM

Márta and György Kurtág play Bach-transcriptions by Kurtág - The two play transcriptions made by the composer of Bach's choral prelude Das alte Jahr vergangen ist BWV 614, his Duet BWV 804 and a (devastating) movement from the Baroque composer's cantata Actus tragicus.

György was born in Romania in 1926, moved to Hungary in 1946 and married pianist Márta Kinsker in 1947. The two have duetted ever since. [Via]

posted by a lungful of dragon (8 comments total)

There is an awful lot of love evident between György and Márta in that playing. Wonderful. Csodálatos!
posted by vac2003 at 1:05 AM on April 16, 2016

Thank you for this post. I don't understand why, but you are absolutely right about that last piece.
posted by Vitamaster at 5:07 AM on April 16, 2016

A thread about the last piece popped up on Piano World recently. Here's Seymour Bernstein playing a solo transcription.
posted by lagomorphius at 6:14 AM on April 16, 2016

Love the crossed hands and intertwined arms!
posted by mpark at 11:33 AM on April 16, 2016

What an unusual tone for an upright piano, especially in the bass register. It's almost like it was designed to play Bach...
posted by jim in austin at 1:32 PM on April 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

#relationshipgoals
posted by speicus at 3:22 PM on April 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Beautiful, as ever. Everyone should know about the music of György Kurtág.
posted by switcheroo at 12:57 PM on April 17, 2016

That was lovely. Thanks for posting.
posted by mubba at 10:38 PM on April 17, 2016