Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006)

He introduces keyboard works, including Continuum for harpsichord, which the composer described as being like 'innumerable thin slices of salami'; Harmonies for organ, for whose first performance Ligeti replaced the organ's regular wind supply with a vacuum cleaner; and his fist Book of Piano Etudes, considered a worthy successor to the Etudes of Chopin.

Music ricercata (1951-3) - No 1 (excerpts)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

Sony SK 62308

track 15

Continuum (1968 - excerpt)

Elisabeth Chojnacka (harpsichord)

Wergo WER 6905-2

track 7

Three Pieces for Two Pianos (1976) - Nos 1 and 2

Fredrik Ullen (pianos)

BIS BIS-CD-1684

CD 2 tracks 32-3

Study No 1 (Harmonies -1967)

Zsigmond Szathmary (organ)

Sony SK 62307

track 20

Piano Etudes (Book 1 - 1985)

tracks 1-6.

Donald Macleod explores Ligeti's keyboard works, including Continuum for harpsichord.

Sonata for solo viola (1991-4) (4th mvt)

Nobuko Imai (viola)

BIS BIS-CD-1379/1380, CD 2 Tr 4

String Quartet No 2 (1968) (3rd, 4th mvts)

Lasalle Quartet:

Walter Levin, Henry Meyer (violins)

Peter Kamnitzer (viola)

Jack Kirstein (cello)

DG 474 327-2, Trs 20-21

Chamber Concerto (1965-70)

Ensemble Die Reihe, Wien

Friedrich Cerha (conductor)

Wergo WER 6903-2, Trs 1-4

Horn Trio (1982)

Saschko Gawriloff (violin)

Hermann Bauman (horn)

Eckart Besch (piano)

Wergo WER 6905-2, Trs 1-4.

Donald explores Ligeti's chamber music, including an excerpt from his String Quartet No 2.

Poeme symphonique, for 100 metronomes (1962) - excerpt

Francoise Terrious (metronome-meister)

Sony SK 62310

track 6

Lontano (1967)

Vienna Philharmonic

Claudio Abbado (conductor)

DG 429 260-2

track 3

Melodien (1971)

Schoenberg Ensemble

Reinbert de Leeuw (conductor)

Teldec 8573-83953-2

track 1

San Francisco Polyphony (1973-4)

Berlin Philharmonic

Jonathan Nott (conductor)

Teldec 8573-88261-2

track 5

Piano Concerto (1985-88) - excerpts

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

Asko Ensemble

tracks 9, 10.

Donald Macleod on Ligeti's orchestral music, including Lontano and San Francisco Polyphony

Car Horn Prelude (Le Grande macabre (1974-7, rev. 1996)

Philharmonia Orchestra

Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)

Sony S2K 62312, CD1 Tr 1

Nouvelles Aventures (1962-5) - excerpt

Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano)

Rose Taylor (contralto)

Omar Ebrahmim (baritone)

Members of The Philharmonia Orchestra

Sony SK 62311, Tr 9

Clocks and Clouds (1973)

Cappella Amsterdam

Daniel Reuss (chorus master)

Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble

Reinbert de Leeuw (conductor)

Teldec 8573-87631-2, Tr 3

Le Grande Macabre (excerpts from Sc 3 and interlude)

Nekrotzar - Willard White (bass-baritone)

Astradamors - Frode Olsen (bass)

Piet the Pot - Graham Clark (tenor)

Prince Go-Go - Derek Lee Ragin (countertenor)

London Sinfonietta Voices

Sony S2K 62312, CD 2, Trs 8-13

Le Grande Macabre (Finale)

Amando - Charlotte Hellekant (mezzo-soprano)

Amanda - Laura Claycomb (soprano)

Sony S2K 62312, CD 2 Tr 16.

Donald Macleod explores Ligeti's dramatic works, including excerpts from Le Grand Macabre.

He introduces vocal and choral music, including two of Ligeti's Nonsense Madrigals - the serene, slowly ebbing Lux Aeterna (one of the works Stanley Kubrick included in the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey). Plus the Requiem, of which The Times music critic William Mann remarked after its London premiere that its effect was so compelling that he 'would gladly have forgone Beethoven's Ninth symphony after the interval'.

The Lobster Quadrille (1989) - excerpt

The King's Singers:

David Hurley, Nigel Short (countertenor)

Bob Chilcott (tenor)

Bruce Russell, Philip Lawson (baritone)

Stephen Connolly (bass)

Sony SK 62311, track 5

Sippal, dobal, nadihegeduvel (With pipes, drums, fiddles) - settings of Sandor Weores (2000)

Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano)

Rose Taylor (contralto)

Omar Ebrahmim (baritone)

Members of The Philharmonia Orchestra

Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)

Sony SK 62311, track 8

Lux aeterna (1966) - excerpt

London Sinfonietta Voices

Terry Edwards (conductor)

Sony SK 62305, track 12

Requiem (1963-5)

Liliana Poli (soprano)

Barbro Ericson (mezzo-soprano)

Chorus of Bavarian Radio

Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Michael Gielen (conductor)

Wergo 60 045-50, track 1

Cuckoo in the Pear Tree (1988) - excerpt

Sony SK 62311, track 2.

Donald Macleod explores Ligeti's vocal and choral music, including Lux Aeterna and Requiem

Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-20th century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent of any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. The week includes many of Ligeti's best loved works including the sonata for cello, Apparitions, Lontano, Clocks and Clouds and Melodien. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies.

While music, science, literature and folk music were all part of young Gy怀rgy's childhood, when it came to choosing a career, his father believed a career in medicine or chemistry was the right route for his talented son.

IV. Tempo de Valse (poco vivace -

Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-20th century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent of any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. The week includes many of Ligeti's best loved works including the sonata for cello, Apparitions, Lontano, Clocks and Clouds and Melodien. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies.

Social unrest in Hungary was growing, and by the autumn of 1956 it was clear that the occupying Russian forces' hold over the country was insecure. In the freezing cold early weeks of December, Ligeti and his wife Vera embarked on a perilous journey.

Musica ricercata (excerpt)

I: Sostenuto

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

Cello Sonata

II: Capriccio. Presto con slancio

Natalie Clein, cello

II: Agitato

WDR Sinfonieorchester

Peter E怀tv怀s, conductor

Musica ricercata nos 9 to 11

Pierre Laurent Aimard, piano

No. 9, Adagio - Mesto ded. To Bartok

No. 10, Vivace - Capriccioso

No. 11, Andante misurato e tranquillo, Omaggio a Frescobaldi

Berlin Philharmonic

Jonathan Nott, conductor

Three Pieces for Two Pianos

Monument

Selbstportrait

Bewegung

Alessio Bax, piano

Lucille Chung, piano

Kate Molleson explores Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti's arrival in the west.

Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-20th century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent of any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. The week includes many of Ligeti's best loved works including the sonata for cello, Apparitions, Lontano, Clocks and Clouds and Melodien. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies.

During the 1980s, Ligeti was taking stock, hungry for new ideas. His research encompassed the player-piano wizardry of Conlon Nancarrow, the music of central Africa and the 14th-century composer Guillaume de Machaut. The results of his enquiries set the musical world alight. With guest contributor pianist Danny Driver.

ɀtudes, Book 1

No 3, Touches bloqu退es (excerpt)

Danny Driver, piano

Ligeti: Chamber Concerto for 13 instruments

I. Corrente (Fliessend)

Ensemble Intercontemporain

Pierre Boulez, director

ɀtudes for piano, book 1, nos 1 to 6

I. D退sordres

II. Cordes

Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-20th century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent of any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. The week includes many of Ligeti's best loved works including the sonata for cello, Apparitions, Lontano, Clocks and Clouds and Melodien. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies.

Puzzles, paradoxes and illusions provided Ligeti with the inspiration for his piano studies. He was always on the hunt for the new, but this didn't prevent him from returning to the music of his Hungarian roots.

ɀtudes: no 8 -Fem (excerpt)

Danny Driver, piano

Three Fantasies after Friedrich H怀lderlin

H䀀lfte des Lebens

SWR Vokalensemble,

Tomoko Hemmi,

Yuval Weinberg, conductor

Capriccio 1

Invention

Capriccio 2

Fredrik Ull退n, piano

ɀtudes, Book 2

Galamb borong

Vertige

Der Zauberlehrling

En suspens

Entrelacs

L'escalier du diable

Coloana infinita

Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano

I: Andantino con tenerezza

Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn

Saschko Gawriloff, violin

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

Kate Molleson explores Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti's process for writing music.

Known to millions through the film director Stanley Kubrick's use of his music in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ligeti's music reflects the seismic events taking place in central Europe in the mid-20th century - shifting borders, war, totalitarianism and for many, exile. These harrowing experiences all made a deep imprint on him and his music. He was born in 1923 into a Jewish Hungarian family in an area that had become part of Romanian Transylvania. After years of state repression, in 1956 at the onset of the Hungarian revolution, Ligeti made a dramatic escape on foot to the West. Freed from state intervention, he was to remain artistically and personally independent of any particular orthodoxies for the rest of his life. He died in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti regarded the whole world as the material for his music. He was fascinated by anything and everything: philosophy, science, the arts, literature - Alice in Wonderland was one of his favourite books. His music can be playful, at times wickedly macabre. He loved patterns, he loved rhythm, he dived into mathematical concepts of immense complexity but was equally curious about history, folklore, the cosmos and the natural world. The week includes many of Ligeti's best loved works including the sonata for cello, Apparitions, Lontano, Clocks and Clouds and Melodien. From the piano, Danny Driver, a huge Ligeti enthusiast, opens up the magical universe Ligeti creates in his piano music, with a special focus on the three sets of piano studies.

While he was battling to complete his piano concerto, Ligeti wrote his Trio for violin, horn and piano. Some critics accused him of trading in his modernist credentials.

ɀtudes (Book 2)

Entrelacs

Danny Driver, piano

Sonata for solo viola

I: Hora lung?

Tabea Zimmermann, viola

II. Vivacissimo molto r퀀tmico

Marie Luise Neunecker, French horn

Saschko Gawriloff , violin

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

IV: Allegro risoluto - molto r퀀tmico

Joonas Ahonen, piano

BIT20 Ensemble

Baldur Br怀nnimann, conductor

ɀtudes Book 3

White on white

Pour Irina

A bout de souffle

Canon

Sch怀nberg Ensemble

Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

Kate Molleson explores Gy\u00f6rgy Ligeti's cultural past.