Repertoire

L’homme

Nacho Duato

The choreography uses a selection of György Kurtág’s works for piano for two hands and for four hands included in vols. I to VII of his Játékok series and three of his J. S. Bach transcriptions for piano for four hands from the volume, Átiratok Machut-tól J.S. Bach.

  • World premiere by Compañía Nacional de Danza: at Teatro Real, Madrid (Spain), April 30th 2003
L’Homme-portada

L’Homme begins with an epigrammatic work that figures in the composer’s catalogue as: “Virág az ember…” (Játékok VIII/1,3ª: “Flowers we are, Mere Flowers..”. the title comes from a fragment of a 16th century Hungarian writer, Péter Bornemisza, to whom Kurtág dedicated one of his most important vocal cycles (op.7). The “musical flower” forming it, together with the text, represents one of the cornerstones upon which the composer’s world of sound is built. And it is precisely this composition that originally inspired Duato to speak to us in his choreography of the ephemeral character of existence, of human frailty, as perishable and fleeting as the life cycle of a flower. Following this work, the three transcriptions for piano for four hands sustain like pillars the brief compositions of Játékok, following the model of interrelation proposed by the composer and his wife Márta in numerous recitals and in his recording for the German label EMC.

Información

  • Choreography:
    Nacho Duato
  • Music:
    György Kurtág (1926). Játékok, volumes I a VIII. Átiratok Machaut-tól J. S. Bach performed on the piano by György and Marta Kurtág and Pedro Alcalde)
  • Set Design:
    Nacho Duato
  • Costume Design:
    Nacho Duato (in collaboration with Ismael Aznar)
  • Lighting Design:
    Joop Caboort
  • Set made by:
    Gerardo Trotti
  • Costumes made by:
    CND wardrobe
  • Running time:
    22'30''
  • Premiere cast:
    Tamako Akiyama, Clyde Archer, Luisa María Arias, José Carlos Blanco, Dimo Kirilov, Ruth Maroto, Rafael Rivero, Amaury Lebrun