György Kurtág’s Játékok (‘Games’) is one of the more remarkable musical projects to emerge in the post-war era. Begun in 1973, its eight books (which comprise over 400 pieces to date) are of extreme brevity but their expressive range is all-encompassing – music poised between the discipline of an exercise and the spontaneity of a whim; ‘games’ as a dialogue of technique and inspiration. The composer and his wife Márta have been giving selections of these pieces for a quarter of a century now; some of them have taken on an almost ritualistic quality, though the present recital is much more of a concert presentation. A lengthy one, even so, with its 43 pieces of around 70 minutes – including eight of those Bach transcriptions that have run concurrently within Kurtág’s output and which between them provide an overview of the emotional territory explored by a diary in sound that has no direct parallel in its unwavering immediacy.

Its public context notwithstanding, this is very much a recital such as the Kurtágs might give at home, each player standing ‘in attendance’ when only one is playing, and the occasional furtive glance serving to underline the innate unpredictability of this music even for such seasoned performers. Maybe it was this as much as the actual content that kept the audience in its thrall; yet no one should doubt the concentration of those present over the course of this singular music-making. No less touching is the uncertainty of both players when deciding how to go about an encore, resulting in a hasty leafing through discarded score-pages to locate desired items – in this instance, a bell-permeated homage to Stravinsky and two Bach transcriptions.

The visual presentation (rightly) refrains from imposing any conceptual gloss on the performance, maintaining a steady focus on the Kurtágs as they unfold their programme (Márta takes on all of the solo pieces from No 20 onwards), and with the occasional shot of an audience that seems caught up in proceedings at all times. Details of each piece are provided on the fold-out digipack but there is nothing on the actual music here or on the DVD. Even so, this is without doubt as fitting a way into this music, played by its most dedicated exponents, as one could wish.