Játékok ("Games") is a long-running project for György Kurtág; he began the series in 1973, and was still adding works at the turn of the millenium. It is a work for solo piano or for piano four hands, and features all manner of compelling aphorisms. Following Kurtág's completion of his Op. 7 in 1968, he found difficulty in composing anything further. His response to the artistic impasse was to analytically review the work of composers such as Beethoven, Bartók, Schubert, Debussy, and others. Though intended to appear as works for children, Játékok is, among other things, a set of comments regarding the open musical questions left behind by other composers. As well, the many small movements represent an informal musical diary of what concerned the composer at the time. Often, these pieces will feature dedications. The styles, and in some cases works, of Stravinsky, Wolff, Domenico Scarlatti, and others have become indentured in the project. Pop icon Nancy Sinatra's hit "These Boots Are Made for Walking" has found its way in as well. Though the little movement is delivered with the same seriousness as everything else Kurtág is involved in, the humor is unmistakable and a welcome addition to the composer's catalog. Commentaries on basic or ancient musical forms such as "Prélude et chorale" and "Hoquetus" provide further insight into other sorts of musical queries that moved the composer at certain times. Of course, this catalog features a "Hommage à Kurtág Márta," for his wife and sometimes piano performance partner. Personal relationships are also represented. This project is not likely to end before the end of the composer's career, even though his writer's block had long since corrected itself. In fact, his output jumped considerably at the end of the century, though Játékok was not abandoned. The composer's worldview becomes more laid out for his audience as the project grows. It is not common for an artist to be able to generate this sort of journal, which not only specifies his concern of the day, but also works with it until a solution or an illumination of the issue is at hand. Then it becomes art. Some readers might point to Beethoven's piano sonatas for equaling levels of intimacy, or Bartók's Mikrokosmos for solo piano to demonstrate a comparable venture, but there is very little in the art world like this. Though some comparable experiments exist in literature, this musical journey is specific to working with and demonstrating ideas through the piano only. Its intimacy exists in the language of the composer, making it a pure portrait of the motions of the artist's imagination. Readers will take pleasure in becoming acquainted with this material; there is no escaping it, if the avant-garde of the twentieth century is of any interest.

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