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77K views 333 replies 110 participants last post by  Richannes Wrahms 
#1 ·
Ligeti anyone?

Today I decided to listen to some pieces I hadn't listened to in a long time, and there he was, in the bottom of huge pile of CDs and scores, Ligeti. Right now I'm listening to his Chamber concerto for 13 instrumentalists and I realize: I like him even more than before.

Other important Ligeti suggestions:

-Melodien

-Piano concerto

-Atmospheres

-Lontano

-San Francisco Polyphony

-Musica Ricercata

-Etudes pour piano (3 volumes)

-both his String Quartets

-Lux Aeterna

-Apparitions

-Violin concerto
 
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#23 ·
I agree on the Space Odyssey. In all of his films Kubrick used the most effective music.
I think you should try listening to some Ligeti as a "stand alone experience" as you say. He might surprise you. Try the Etudes for solo piano or the Chamber concerto.
 
#15 ·
Hey Reiner!

T'is a small world on the net.

Yes, that recording is something else. It was the first I heard, so, have been unfairly biased ever since, although I do sometimes like the "go beyond the limits" approach a few have taken.

Like this one - he's going too fast for his ability, so the tempo is wonky, BUT, there is such intensity. It is an interpretation.



Glad to be chatting again.:)
 
#13 ·
I don't usually go for avant-gardish compositions emotionally, but I do enjoy them a little intellectuallly if that makes any sense. Nevertheless I find his Requiem for mezzo soprano, etc, etc. to be one the most intense emotional experiences I can imagine.

I too like Lontano which I believe was used in a Kubrick film as well. I forget which.
 
#18 ·
To be honest, I actually don't mind Ligeti. He's one of my favorite composers of avant-garde music.... String Quartet No. 2, Atmospheres, and parts of Le Grand Macabre (though sickening to the stomach) are exceptional. Requiem is really out of this planet. That said, he's not someone I usually come back to every week.
 
#26 ·
Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna, and the occasional film soundtrack are alright from time to time, but his piano etudes seem pretty directionless and unnecessary. He's hit and miss for me, but mostly miss.

Is it true that none of the string players in Atmospheres ever play the same note at the same time? It seems like pointless novelty, and the amount of players involved is overkill.
 
#27 ·
Is it true that none of the string players in Atmospheres ever play the same note at the same time? It seems like pointless novelty, and the amount of players involved is overkill.
I don't remember exactly the first pages of the score but the strings are all divisi (which means that every player has his/her own part), so the answer would probably be yes, that no 2 players play the same note at the same time, unless of course it happens by coincidence.
As for this being pointless, the effect that you hear (micropolyphony) couldn't be accomplished with the use of a smaller orchestra, becuase timbre and volume is all that matters in this work. Also, if you look at other works by Ligeti, you 'll find that his instrumentation and his ensembles are always chosen carefully to serve his musical choices, of course sometimes more effectively than others.
 
#29 ·
I really admire Ligeti's music. I really like the concept of micropolyphony, and a teacher of mine once played us Atmospheres and showed a clip of a slowly changing color spectre, it's really fascinating how it sounds like a mess, but it's actually all really complex and calculated.. That being said, I did enjoy studying a couple of his scores in a class, and I still have a soft spot for the Chamber Concerto for 13 Instruments, the Requiem, Atmospheres, Lontano and Le Grand Macabre.. Only thing he did that I find completely lacking of any merit whatsoever is the Metronome thing.. Otherwise, yeah, I'm an admitted Ligeti fan.
 
#30 ·
I've just acquired his Requiem & it's a very haunting, powerful & richly dark work. The Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures on the same disc are really quirky, humorous & wierd, they sound like bits of opera taken to an extreme (& out of context?). I'm looking forward to getting more Ligeti, as I have found these works to be quite engaging. I like his style, which was very individual & experimental...
 
#31 ·
Here's an interesting quote I found by Ligeti talking about his Poeme Symphonique for 100 metronomes:

"At the end of the '50s and the beginning of the '60s came the happening movement from America. I was interested in an ambiguous way. I made some happenings--you know my piece for 100 metromonomes?--but I had the feeling I am not a happening person. You know the Fluxus group? I am not belonging there. After a time I had the feeling they take their job too seriously. And I am not serious like people like LaMonte Young and Geroge Brecht or even Cage. I will tell you exactly what is between me and these happening people. They believe that life is art and art is life. I appreciate very much Cage and many people, but my artistic credo is that art--every art--is not life. It is something artificial. And for me all the happenings are too dilletante. You see, I want, if I am the audience, to see a perfect music, or a perfect painting. I don't want to take part in it. I don't want that this fence between the piece and the audience be abolished. I don't want to get involved. It's the feeling of distance. I am not saying that my opinion is for everybody."

Quote from a 1974 interview at http://www.artnotart.com/fluxus/gligeti-comments01.html
 
#32 ·
My friend and I are composers, we set ourselves a task this week of writing roughly in the style of a composer in order to loosen up our ideas of approach to composition. For him I chose Morton Feldman and for me he chose Ligeti. Clocks and Clouds. Ligeti was a great composer and will be missed.
 
#34 ·
I had a disk of Ligeti's complete Etudes and Musica Ricercata which I really enjoyed. Other than that, one of my favourite works is the "Hungarian Rock".
 
#35 ·
I've just acquainted myself with Ligeti recently. I've got 2 cd's of his music on Wergo - Requiem, Aventures, Nouvelles Aventures, Chamber Concerto, Ramifications, Lux Aeterna & Atmospheres. Listening to this music, I can't understand why Ligeti seems to be branded a "difficult" composer by some (conservative?) listeners. Sure, he has some 'out there' works like the Aventures, but apart from that, I think he is easier to listen to than some other C20th composers (eg. Varese, whose music I also love). Ligeti is by no means easy listening but he's not as difficult as he's reputed to be, IMO...
 
#37 ·
At the end of the '50s and the beginning of the '60s came the happening movement from America. I was interested in an ambiguous way. I made some happenings--you know my piece for 100 metromonomes?--but I had the feeling I am not a happening person. You know the Fluxus group? I am not belonging there. After a time I had the feeling they take their job too seriously. And I am not serious like people like LaMonte Young and Geroge Brecht or even Cage. I will tell you exactly what is between me and these happening people. They believe that life is art and art is life. I appreciate very much Cage and many people, but my artistic credo is that art--every art--is not life. It is something artificial. And for me all the happenings are too dilletante. You see, I want, if I am the audience, to see a perfect music, or a perfect painting. I don't want to take part in it. I don't want that this fence between the piece and the audience be abolished. I don't want to get involved. It's the feeling of distance. I am not saying that my opinion is for everybody.

Intriguing quote. I actually have a CD of ligetti's "Mechanical Music" which I quite enjoy... except for the piece for the 100 metronomes. As Ligetti suggests the piece is something of a "happening"... an experimentation for the sake of experimentation... and as such it strikes me as a sad failure. The other works I quite like. They have a certain mathematical quality... in spite of or because of the use of the mechanical keyboards and the semi-random structures... that reminds me somewhat of Phillip Glass... of Bach... of Dufay...
 
#41 ·
Although my own personal favorites are "Desorde" and "Touches bloquees", I'm currently studying "Fanfares", because the other two are virtually unplayable (by me at least). Sadly, I have found that "Fanfares" isn't much easier than the other two. You have to separate completely the two hemispheres of your brain in order to play it!
 
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