Homage to John Cage

György Kurtág (b. 1926) is among the most acclaimed living composers. Through his works, as well as his long teaching career at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, he also became one of the most influential figures in modern European music. Apart from a few orchestral works written in the 1990s, Kurtág’s music is almost exclusively scored for solo instruments or small chamber ensembles. A case in point is the Hommage à John Cage for solo violin. Kurtag wrote several pieces bearing the title “Hommage”, as well as many others that are “in memoriam” or based on reminiscences. It is a substantial component of his music. The Hommage à John Cage strikes an exploratory, reverential tone. We are presented with isolated intervals, and the music appears to be feeling its way along. The entire work is brief (lasting just two minutes), and while not being tonally organized around a key center, it is still accessible to general listeners. Kurtág uses a few stabilizing pitches and falling intervals to suggest momentary cadences. As the work nears its conclusion, he also introduces double stops into the texture, signaling a kind of development beyond the simpler, single-stop figures heard earlier.
Kurtág once commented how he would love to have more time to stop and listen intently to nature, to enjoy the kind of experiences that John Cage prioritized. Moreover, those few impressions, generally gleaned in just minutes of available introspection, became for Kurtág the most real and most meaningful moments in his life.

(c) Jason Stell