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György Ligeti in Reflection in the 2006—07 Season

Nov. 01, 2006

 

In the first season since György Ligeti died, his music and legacy thrive. A wide variety of performances, events and news features serve to honor Ligeti’s life and work. Here, we hope to highlight performances, stories and easily-accessible online content of particular interest.

Performances
Particularly of interest this month is Pierre-Laurent Aimard—a favorite of Ligeti—and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez performing Ligeti’s Piano Concerto on November 30, as well as December 1, 2 and 5. Later in the season Chicago Symphony Orchestra, through its MusicNOW series and a special “Aimard & Friends” concert, will play host to four more Ligeti works: Melodien, Nouvelles aventures, Three Pieces for Two Pianos, and Fém from Etudes (arranged for two pianos).

November 6 sees California State University performing Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto; on November 9 the New England Conservatory features the composer’s Six Miniatures; and on November 17 and 18 the Utah Symphony led by Keith Lockhart performs Ligeti’s Atmospheres, widely known from the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey

Many more performances of Ligeti works abound throughout the season. We suggest you check your local performing organizations’ schedules for further information.

In the Press
While countless articles, essays and obituaries have been written to honor Ligeti since his passing, among the current crop we are happy to single out Alex Ross’ feature in the December 2006 issue of Chamber Music magazine. In it Ross explores the composer’s work alongside many of Eastern Europe’s changes that shaped much of the Hungarian composer’s life and, in quoting Derek Bermel, deems Ligeti “The Last Great Unifer.” Ross notes:

“Ligeti got a respectful nod from almost everyone—downtown New York experimentalists, Austrian high-modernists, sun-kissed California minimalists, elderly masters of the English symphony. He drew universal admiration not just because he was a great composer but because he was alive and alert to the universe of music around him. At one time or another, he took account of Hungarian folk melody, twelve-tone technique, every noisy device of the postwar avant-garde, minimalism, West African drumming, bebop jazz, the player-piano music of Conlon Nancarrow, the just-intonation tunings of Harry Partch, and Supertramp. At the same time, he was a fiercely disciplined artist, who filtered his impressions into images of startling precision.”

Alex Ross is the music critic for the New Yorker, and much of his writing, including further pieces on György Ligeti, can be found at his blog at www.therestisnoise.com.

Online
We have covered a variety of links to information and content sources relating to Ligeti’s life and works on the web before; here we present an updated listing:

Schott Music György Ligeti Page
György Ligeti Wikipedia Article
Video of Poeme Symphonique Performance
A Myspace Page Dedicated to György Ligeti
BBC Artist Profile of György Ligeti
Blogcritics.org Roundup of Ligeti Links

News