Signs, Games and Messages [HL:50601465]

Signs, Games and Messages are series for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Each of the three notions refers to an essential factor in Kurtág�s music. Signs ties it with the composer's period of study in Paris as a young man, when he could not compose, merely put graphic signs on the paper. Games links with his nine-volume series for the piano with that title. Messages conveys the very personal content of these works, in that these short pieces are meant to be diary-entries and missives to musiciansand friends important to Kurtág.

The collection – like the earlier five series for string instruments – does not form a coherent cycle. The pieces can be played individually or in various orders or mixed with from Signs, Games and Messages written for other instruments.