´óÏó´«Ã½

György Ligeti's technical and aesthetic investigations find expression in the first set of piano études and Clocks and Clouds, the result of attending a philosophical lecture.

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.

Études, Book 1
No 3, Touches bloquées (excerpt)
Danny Driver, piano

Ligeti: Chamber Concerto for 13 instruments
I. Corrente (Fliessend)
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Pierre Boulez, director

Études for piano, book 1, nos 1 to 6
I. Désordres
II. Cordes à vides
III. Touches bloquées
IV. Fanfare
V. Arc-en-çiel
VI. Automne à Varsovie
Danny Driver, piano

Clocks and Clouds
Cappella Amsterdam
Asko / Schönberg Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith