BaL 6.01.18 - Ligeti recordings

[Padraig]

I wonder if this little piece will take on a significance in the imagination in 2018. It's pretty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPsbF8xqpys

[teamsaint]

Recently uploaded to Youtube.

Pat Kop at her very best, I'd suggest.

[Richard Barrett]

(Oh and, an electronic arrangement of Aventures is supposedly in the soundtrack somewhere too, but I've never heard it for myself...)

It isn't an electronic arrangement of the piece but an electronically treated recording of the piece, which occurs at the end of the "star-gate" sequence, crossfading from the (reedited) Atmospheres at the moment when Bowman's blinking eye fills the screen, and continues for a little while into the following sequence. The modification of the piece from its original version, by the way, was the basis of the lawsuit brought by Ligeti against Kubrick because it had been done without the composer's permission and presented as his music. (Michael Caine voice: "not many people know that.")

I hope she has a good word or two for the Blu-ray of the revised version of "Le Grand Macabre".

For me, this opera (which is a bit of a compilation of Ligeti clichés really, possibly deliberately but that doesn't save it IMO) divides Ligeti's output into two: the innovative and often highly ambiguous composer of everything from Atmosphères to the Three Pieces for two pianos, including (to my mind) masterpieces such as the Chamber Concerto, Second String Quartet, Lux aeterna and especially Lontano giving way after the opera to the seemingly indecisive and burned-out composer of the later, retrogressive and comparatively directionless music, which consists largely of pieces in short movements that often begin promisingly but never really go anywhere. (I imagine these will form the mainstay of the programme! but let's see...)

[Alison]

Oh, they're doing New Year New Music again.
On the evidence of last time, savour while it lasts!!

[EdgeleyRob]

Yes, Lux Aeterna, unforgettably apt to the trans-Lunar journey to the crater; Atmosphères after Dave, supposedly setting out for Jupiter in the spacepod, falls into the stargate of the Monolith; but there was another - the Kyrie from the Requiem is in 2001 as well.... ah, but where.....? (**)

(**) Clue: it's used as a leitmotif for...
(Oh and, an electronic arrangement of Aventures is supposedly in the soundtrack somewhere too, but I've never heard it for myself...)

http://www.brendanfinan.net/wordpress/tag/gyorgy-ligeti/

[Richard Barrett]

http://www.brendanfinan.net/wordpres...gyorgy-ligeti/

(as I already said above)

[EdgeleyRob]

(as I already said above)

[MrGongGong]

I used to collect recordings of Atmosphères
then I realised that it was the perfect example of a piece of music that never works as a recording
utterly wonderful as a live experience but none of the recordings work at all IMV (even with the 8 Genelecs etc )

[jayne lee wilson]

Answer to #12....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk

...the Ligeti Kyrie is first heard in Act 1, The Dawn of Man, at perhaps the key moment in the story; and accompanies each (re)appearance of the monolith (Moon, Jupiter and Beyond, etc.) except for its final manifestation before Bowman, leading into the closing sequence with Also Sprach. I feel the first act is the most impressive part of the film, and I'm still overwhelmed watching it, even now...one of the greatest sequences in movie history, surely, and the music is an essential part of its impact.

With Ligeti....possibly due to their formal layout (neo-classical Ligeti ) some of the later concertos - for violin and piano especially - get a great deal of attention (and a surprising number of recordings), but they sometimes seemed too cartoonish to these ears, sensational (literally, and very!) yet superficial, and never meant as much to me as the riveting Cello Concerto (1966) and what I see, or hear, as classic Ligeti, the sequence of orchestral works from the late 50s through early 70s - e.g ....

• Apparitions (1958–59)
• Atmospheres (1961)
• Lontano (1967)
• Melodien (1971)
• San Francisco Polyphony (1973–74)...and of course the Requiem from 1963-5.

I always want to hear these again (there's a terrific live Lontano on the 2017 Gramophone Contemporary record of the Year, with Benjamin and Murail) but whilst very excited by them initially, feel less drawn to the Violin and Piano Concertos now. I could do with revisiting the multi-horned Hamburg Concerto again though (alternative name: Concerto for Pentaceratops), I recall getting quite a thrill out of that one...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Just preparing for this one.

[Beef Oven!]

I didn't catch the composer's name regarding the piece of music before the Ligeti. It was said that the main piece on the CD is a string quartet with electronics. Can anyone say who the composer is? Thanks.

[Howdenite]

I didn't catch the composer's name regarding the piece of music before the Ligeti. It was said that the main piece on the CD is a string quartet with electronics. Can anyone say who the composer is? Thanks.

Do you mean this listing:
HIDDEN

CHAYA CZERNOWIN: Adiantum Capillus-Veneris; Hidden

Inbal Hever (mezzo-soprano); Jack Quartet

Wergo WER 73552 (CD)

[Beef Oven!]

Do you mean this listing:
HIDDEN

CHAYA CZERNOWIN: Adiantum Capillus-Veneris; Hidden

Inbal Hever (mezzo-soprano); Jack Quartet

Wergo WER 73552 (CD)

Yes! That's the one. Many thanks, Howdenite

[Pulcinella]

Slightly off topic, but I think I heard mention of the BaL site being revamped (searching made easier) at the end of the Ligeti comparison.
I can't find it.
If anyone else can, it might be worth posting it as a link, or (even better?) adding it as one of the links on our own home page Useful links (Radio 3 links).

[Beef Oven!]

Slightly off topic, but I think I heard mention of the BaL site being revamped (searching made easier) at the end of the Ligeti comparison.
I can't find it.
If anyone else can, it might be worth posting it as a link, or (even better?) adding it as one of the links on our own home page Useful links (Radio 3 links).

That's a great idea- a forum link. And maybe add it to the Ligeti composer thread.