I began to get this record on a fourth or fifth listen. What had at first sounded fragmented, brittle and austere started to become intriguing and full of small but delightful surprises. Kurtág's music is certainly not easy and its potential as source material for improvisation on paper seems limited. But in the hands of Swiss pianist Weber, Barry Guy and Swiss percussionist Balts Nill, a kind of transformation takes place that is at times oddly appealing but at others seems quite naturalistic. ‘Play For Infinity’, for example, leads into a limpid ‘Improvisation VI’ that reflects perfectly the ‘games’ that Kurtág envisioned for these pieces. The promise of ‘Dialog’ is in turn fulfilled by ‘Improvisation VII’ in one of the record's most lyrical sections, while ‘For Georg Kröll's Birthday’ is followed, if obliquely, by the Gamelan-like ‘Improvisation IX’. Games and Improvisations is a reminder that not everything in life offers up its gifts easily. Sometimes the listener has to try just that little bit harder.