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Article: THE SCORE
- Article from:
- The Stranger
- Article date:
- September 17, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright The Stranger Sep 17-Sep 23, 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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CLASSICAL, JAZZ & AVANT
KAFKA, KNOCKS, PINGS, AND BRUTAL SMEARS
"Lean on the upbeat!" Hungarian composer György Kurtág urges, coaching soprano Tony Arnold on a brief but compelling video included in the CD/DVD set Kafka Fragments (Bridge). He knows what he wants. Requiring a momentary embellishment of a line, he requests in fractured English "a little bit yodel."
Written for violin and soprano, Kafka Fragments collates stray tidbits and diaristic epigrams by the most (or at least the first) neurotic writer of the 20th century, Franz Kafka. Some seem clipped from a screenplay ("The seamstress in the downpour") while other snippets are gnomic ("My prison cell, my fortress") or read like ...