György Kurtág Colindă-Baladă...

[Music]

Játékok, for upright piano: graphic, poetic short pieces, images of fragility, fragments recalled, verging on silence. Colind˘a-Balad˘a, a vast musical epic sung in Romanian. Four poems by Anna Akhmatova, verse which fascinates Kurtág, conjuring up events from the past and exploring inner life.
But Fear and the Muse take turns to guard
the room where the exiled poet is banished,
and the night, marching at full pace,
of approaching dawn, has no knowledge.

(Anna Akhmatova, translated by A. S. Kline ©)