‘In nomine all’ongharese’ (2001) was Kurtág’s contribution to a festoon of pieces commissioned for the festival of new chamber music at Witten, all based on the polyphonic model that had stimulated English composers from Taverner to Purcell. Kurtág’s meditation, originally for cor anglais, must bear some hidden relation to that source, but the second part of the title is more in evidence, as the line moves through steps worn smooth by Hungarian folk song—ultimate source and ultimate standard for this composer, as for Bartók.

from notes by Paul Griffiths © 2015