GRAMMY® Award-winning American soprano Susan Narucki is one of today’s most committed advocates of the music of our time. Her deep and lasting working relationship with György Kurtág dates to 1986, the year the Hungarian composer penned his iconoclastic chamber work Kafka Fragments.

Susan instinctively imbues the work with the widely varied moods of anguish, longing and rage alongside humor, absurdity and ecstasy that the texts convey.

Arranged over four sections, Kurtág sets 40 extracts from the diaries and letters of the mercurial novelist Franz Kafka. Despite being his largest song-cycle, Kurtág deploys his signature miniature style: many of the movements last less than a minute long.

Joining Susan is one of today’s foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music, violinist Curtis Macomber. Together they prove to be the perfect proponents of Kurtág’s idiosyncratic fusion of poetry and music.

GYÖRGY KURTÁG (b. 1926)
Franz Kafka (1883–1924)

Kafka Fragments, Op.24
for soprano and solo violin

Part 1:
1. No. 1. Die Guten gehn im gleichen Schritt… 2. No. 2. Wie ein Weg im Herbst 3. No. 3 .Verstecke 4. No. 4. Ruhelos 5. No. 5. Berceuse I 6. No. 6. Nimmermehr 7. No. 7. “Wenn er mich immer frägt” 8. No. 8. Es zupfte mich jemand am Kleid 9. No. 9. Die Weissnäherinnen 10. No. 10. Szene am Bahnhof 11. No. 11. Sonntag, den 19. Juli 1910 (Berceuse II) 12. No. 12. Meine Ohrmuschel… 13. No. 13. Einmal brach ich mir das Bein 14. No. 14. Umpanzert 15. No. 15. Zwei Spazierstöcke 16. No. 16. Keine Rückkehr 17. No. 17. Stolz (1920/15. November, zehn Uhr) 18. No. 18. Träumend hing die Blume 19. No. 19. Nichts dergleichen

Part 2:
20. Der wahre Weg

Part 3:
21. No. 1. Haben? Sein? 22. No. 2. Der Coitus als Bestrafung 23. No. 3. Meine Festung 24. No. 4. Schmutzig bin ich, Milena 25. No. 5. Elendes Leben (Double) 26. No. 6. Der begrenzte Kreis 27. No. 7. Zeil, Weg, Zögern 28. No. 8. So fest 29. No. 9. Verstecke (Double) 30. No. 10. Penetrant Jüdisch 31. No. 11. Staunend sahen wir das grosse Pferd 32. No. 12. Szene in der Elektrischen

Part 4:
33. No. 1. Zu spät 34. No. 2. Eine lange Geschichte 35. No. 3. In Memoriam Robert Klein 36. No. 4. Aus einem alten Notizbuch 37. No. 5. Leoparden 38. No. 6. In Memoriam Joannis Pilinszky 39. No. 7. Wiederum, wiederum 40. No. 8. Es blendete uns die Mondnacht…

Total duration: 54.30

Musicians:
Susan Narucki, soprano
Curtis Macomber, violin

Kurtág’s singular masterpiece, Kafka Fragments, is one of his most autobiographical works, the score peppered with personal references and messages to well-known musicians and other acquaintances.

The works are 40 very short pieces for soprano and violin, a cycle of a little less than an hour and here performed by the American operatic soprano Susan Narucki and Violinist Curtis Macomber. Kurtág is well-known for saying his music is made out of almost nothing and thus Kafka Fragments is certainly a case in point - just a voice and a violin above the abyss, a few essential things, conveying much with little.

Which makes for an incredible creation - powerful existentialism. The liner notes are quite informative and include all the lyrics, which I found was a nice touch. Kafka was Jewish, like Kurtág. He lived in Prague. Kafka’s concerns were spiritual, theological, and quotidian - he had more doubts than certainty, but was a seeker.

Musically, the closest parallel clearly seems to be Pierrot Lunaire, though Kurtag’s single biggest musical influence is Webern. I find it strangely compelling. It is certainly one of Kurtág’s masterpieces, and in fact I would say it is a masterpiece of the late 20th century. While there is some variation overall, the mood is full of angst and hints of tragedy. The atonal music does not convey the depth and range of emotion attributed to the work by some writers, but nonetheless the overall dulcet ambiance is thoroughly commendable.

In short, this is probably the most accessible of these works at this point, for it is a mighty fine performance and well-sculpted audio recording. The compositions are unique in that they depend solely on the ability of a soprano to accept the partnership of one instrument as accompaniment. But writing that statement immediately calls for a retraction: the soprano and the violin each hold equal value in these fragments from Franz Kafka’s bizarre diaries.

The ability of the violin to spread a pitch cluster over several strings invites the soprano to do the same - not necessarily of the sprechstimme quality but finding that inner place between two pitches that has yet to resolve in either direction. At times the violin dances and the voice dances, at other times the violin sans vibrato mourns and the voice groans and pleads. There are moments of snap and humor that are close to the Orientale sound: there are moments so mysterious that they seem to emerge from some other space unknown to anyone but the composer.

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