Gyorgy Ligeti R.I.P.

[Claude]

Influential composer Ligeti dies

Austrian composer Gyorgy Ligeti, whose music appeared in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died aged 83.

He was known for his avant garde compositions, including the 1962 piece Poeme Symphonique, which is played on 100 metronomes.

His most famous works are those used in the Stanley Kubrick film, including Atmospheres and Lux Aeterna.

Ligeti was born in Romania in 1923 to Hungarian parents, and later adopted Austrian citizenship.

He began studying music at the conservatory in Cluj, Romania, in 1941 and continued his studies in Budapest.

In 1943 he was arrested and, because he was Jewish, was sentenced to forced labour for the rest of the Second World War.

Although Ligeti survived, the war claimed several members of his family - including his brother and his father.

Playful

After his release at the end of the war, he returned to Hungary, where he taught music at the Liszt Academy.

His musical ambitions were constrained by Hungary's communist regime, with the result that much of his work from this period was based on folk music.

Following the 1956 uprising, Ligeti fled Hungary, settling in Vienna, Austria.

Here, he came into contact with avant garde composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Gottfried Michael Koenig.

After this time, his writing became more adventurous and playful - often challenging the conventions of music and performance.

Ligeti's 1961 work, Future of Music - A Collective Composition, consists of the composer looking at the audience from the stage, and the audience's reaction.

He wrote in a variety of styles, including chamber music, opera and electronic music.

In 2004, he was awarded Sweden's prestigious Polar Music prize, and judges praised him for "stretching the boundaries of the musically conceivable".

Ligeti is survived by his wife, Vera, and a son, Lukas, a percussionist who lives in New York.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5072858.stm

[Spontooneous]

No more new Ligeti works! That's hard to think about. RIP.

[brownie]

Sad news!

An original voice is silenced!

[7/4]

Really sorry to hear about his passing. I heard he was dealing with cancer a few years ago.

[Nate Dorward]

Sad to see this. Time to pull out a few Ligeti CDs....

[BruceH]

Seems like everybody's going! R.I.P.

[Evonce]

Sad. I was just listening to his string quartets a few days ago. The barrel organ and metronomes keep up a memorial din...

[rostasi]

Yes, very sad. I'm hoping that some label

will actually do a proper presentation of

all of his works. It seems that, for example,

Sony really dropped the ball on this one.

No more new works, but let's enjoy the bounty that we have now!

[B. Clugston]

Sad news. In a lot of ways, his music was the "star" in 2001. Lux Aeterna is an incredible work.

[mikeweil]

One of the greatest 20th century composers is gone! What a sad day!

Not a collected works, but the reference editions are on the German label Wergo.

Teldec has the György Ligeti Project, which is something like a collected works.

Here's a link to the obituary page of his German publisher, Schott Musik (in English).

Edited June 12, 2006 by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

http://www.gyoergy-ligeti.de/

[Sundog]

Sorry to hear about this. Another true original gone. RIP

[rostasi]

Of course, the great irony of the "...Space Odyssey" connection is that Kubrick

didn't ask Ligeti for permission to use his music beforehand and Ligeti was not

all that pleased.

Anyway, one of the greats of the past century. Very sad...

A similar note: I was just reading another interview with Elliott Carter

during lunch today. He'll be 98 this December and he's still as sharp as ever.

I think when we lose him and Stockhausen, it'll be mighty empty.

[P.L.M]

One of the greatest composer ever.

Certainly the most important of the second half of the last century with XENAKIS, FELDMAN, CAGE, CARTER, SCELSI, GRISEY and the young STOCKHAUSEN.

He had such a beautifull and noble face!

Edited June 12, 2006 by P.L.M

[mikeweil]

Of course, the great irony of the "...Space Odyssey" connection is that Kubrick

didn't ask Ligeti for permission to use his music beforehand and Ligeti was not

all that pleased.

It's true that they did not ask him beforehand, but read about his reaction on his webpage (link)

MGM and 2001: A Space Odyssey

I liked the film. The way it used my music I accept artistically . . . In the l970s I saw a book on the making of 2001 and read that Ligeti had successfully sued MGM for taking his music. But it’s not so. I never sued them. MGM wrote me such nice letters. They said Ligeti should be happy; he’s now famous in America.

Edited June 12, 2006 by mikeweil

[rostasi]

I read that same book! Jerome Agel's book!

It was a favorite read as a youngster.

Funny how he refers to himself in the third person.

[David Ayers]

Rod,

Don't you feel that Teldec did a good job of finishing what Sony started? As editions of avant garde music go that seems to me one of the best even if the switch in label midstream makes it aesthetically unpleasing on the shelf.

As for Ligeti, a great presence. I've heard a lot of his work in concert at one time or another, and I am glad to see that his late Violin concerto (which I love) has been taken up by several violinists (I've heard it done in concert by Christian Tetzlaff and, perhaps more surprisingly, Tasmin Little).

R.I.P.

[mikeweil]

I agree - especially since the composer had a hand in selecting the performances issued.

bad news is there will not be more, as Teldec belongs to the Warner group which decided to back out of the classical CD market.

[rostasi]

Rod,

Don't you feel that Teldec did a good job of finishing what Sony started? As editions of avant garde music go that seems to me one of the best even if the switch in label midstream makes it aesthetically unpleasing on the shelf.

Yup, I agree with you on that. I'm not a stickler on the aesthetic looks or anything like that. It was just that right after Sony dropped the series, It was a bit of a letdown - at first, I wondered if anyone else would release a full discography and deciding that, considering the nature of modern classical music, that it probably wouldn't be done. Money would surely be used for the Thomas Ades of the modern classical world. There was the feeling of having to begin again not knowing that there would be a continuation and all that.

I do have to say that it's nice that major labels took this on - something that still surprises me to this day!

You usually have to rely on the Modes and other independents for this kind of work.

Last August, Ligeti's name came up in conversation with Stockhausen.

He said that Ligeti had just arrived from Hungary and was in pretty bad shape

both mentally and physically because of the Russian invasion - literally fainting -

and Stockhausen took him in to his cramped apartment for three months and

arranged a chance for him to work at the electronic music studio of the WDR

as well as to receive some spending money.

It's amazing what some of these great composers had to endure in those days.

Emotional and, in the case of Xenakis for instance, physical scars of war.

[7/4]

Last August, Ligeti's name came up in conversation with Stockhausen.

He said that Ligeti had just arrived from Hungary and was in pretty bad shape

both mentally and physically because of the Russian invasion - literally fainting -

and Stockhausen took him in to his cramped apartment for three months and

arranged a chance for him to work at the electronic music studio of the WDR

as well as to receive some spending money.

It's amazing what some of these great composers had to endure in those days.

Emotional and, in the case of Xenakis for instance, physical scars of war.

Makes the shit I put up with trivial.

[rostasi]

Nearly all of us methinks...

[mikeweil]

JPC currently sells the five volumes of the Ligeti Project that Warner/Teldec issued for € 4.99 each - I tried one of them today and decided to get me the remaining ones next week. At that price they're a steal.

The seven volumes that SONY released are on sale for € 10.99 each, BTW .....

Edited August 18, 2006 by mikeweil

[Michael Weiss]

I've heard a lot of his work in concert at one time or another, and I am glad to see that his late Violin concerto (which I love) has been taken up by several violinists (I've heard it done in concert by Christian Tetzlaff and, perhaps more surprisingly, Tasmin Little).

R.I.P.

Got tickets to hear Christian Tetzlaff play the Violin Concerto with the NY Phil March 14.

[Larry Kart]

A 1998 post from a classical board:

"Apparently, Ligeti and Salonen had a major clash during the recording of Le Grand Macabre. At one

point, Salonen even asked Ligeti to leave the hall while he was rehearsing with the singers. Conductor and composer are currently no more speaking to each other."

[Bright Moments]

can someone recommend a good ligeti starting point for me please?

note to Jim A: please bump this over to the classical forum when you get a chance!