Expression in aphoristic form. György Kurtág’s ‘Kafka-Fragmente’ Op. 24

György Kurtág (born 1926)—a master of musical aphorism is probably the most important Hungarian living composer. In relation to the musical form he is widely recognized as the successor of Anton Webern. Kafka-Fragmente op. 24 is a key score in Kurtág’s output, widely regarded as a masterpiece of European music of the last half century. The compositions are broken down into many small parts, and their forms take a very condensed shape. This poses a number of analytical problems for the performer and researcher. Kurtág’s music is very dense, almost calligraphic. Each note means something, has its own justification (although sometimes deeply hidden). Some of the fragments function like Augenmusik, many of them are built on allusions and understatements. The multitude of details present in his works influences the atomization of expression. This results in a kind of “stratification” of musical piece into many, extremely diverse expressive tones. This article tries to define the functioning of Kurtág’s musical expression on selected examples from Kafka-Fragmente op. 24.