Remembering György Ligeti

July 29th, 2008

(Photo by Guy Vivien.)

Up at Slate today is a nice piece about the Hungarian composer György Ligeti called “Ligeti: A Sound Odyssey”. Like most people who know of him, I learned of Ligeti via Stanley Kubrick who used many of the composer’s works in his films, most notably in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Requiem, for Soprano and Mezzo Soprano solo, mixed Chorus and Orchestra is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music and is one of the most intense, visceral listens you will ever have. If you like the bits of Ligeti that are scattered across Kubrick’s films, I highly recommend you listen to the pieces themselves. Aventures was altered for use in 2001 and its original form is a whole different animal. I would also suggest buying an album as opposed to just the individual pieces with which you may be familiar. By doing so, I came across more great music by Ligeti including Apparitions, String Quartet No. 1, and his Études pour piano.

For more on Ligeti, try the Braunarts website dedicated to the composer. (You’ll need Shockwave installed.)

(Ligeti’s La Grand Macabre in performance. Found here.)

Related posts:

1. R.I.P. – György Ligeti
2. Remembering Ole Bull
3. The 2006-2007 Symphony Season
4. Show #18: Remembering Warren Zevon
5. Show #166: Remembering Bo Diddley