Hommage à Mihály András (12 Microludes) Op.13 (1977)

Kurtág’s second work for string quartet is characteristic of the composer both in its function as a “homage” to an admired muscian and its construction as a series of miniatures. It is a tribute not only to Andràs Mihály on his sixtieth birthday but also to Bach, in that each of the twelve pieces is based on a different note of the tempered scale (rising from C to B), to Fresobaldi (in Nos. 1, 6 and 11) and, in its faith in extreme brevity, to Webern. The longest piece (the attenuated No.5) lasts just over two minutes, the shortest (the violent No.8) no more than 16 seconds.