György Kurtág (born 1926) is considered one of the most significant composers after 1945. Born in Romania, he received crucial influences from his studies with Olivier Messiaen and Marianne Stein in Paris. His intensive engagement with the music of Anton Webern and the challenge posed by literary works, particularly the plays of Samuel Beckett, were equally formative during this time. In 2006, his concert work (2003, for violin, viola, and orchestra) was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. This unique series of conversations with Kurtág, both alone and with his wife, offers a fascinating insight into the personality of the composer, characterized by reserve yet equally marked by an insatiable desire for sensory experiences through art and nature, as well as encounters with people. The couple speaks with disarming openness about their lives—the backdrop against which masterpieces like Messages of the Late Miss R. V. Troussova (1976-80, for soprano and chamber orchestra) or Stele (1994, for orchestra) were created. An analysis of some of Kurtág's works, especially the concert work, reveals his working method: no system, no dogma, no formulas—but rather the expression of elemental human emotions using means that directly engage the innermost regions of the listener. Hungarian music journalist Bálint András Varga has dedicated nearly forty years to working for and with composers. He has published several books, including extensive interviews with Lutoslawski, Berio, and Xenakis.