大象传媒

Kate Molleson explores Gy枚rgy Ligeti's cultural past, and the third set of piano studies is unpacked by guest Danny Driver.

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.

脡tudes (Book 2)
Entrelacs
Danny Driver, piano

Sonata for solo viola
I: Hora lung膬
Tabea Zimmermann, viola

Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano
II. Vivacissimo molto r铆tmico
Marie Luise Neunecker, French horn
Saschko Gawriloff , violin
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

Piano Concerto
IV: Allegro risoluto - molto r铆tmico
Joonas Ahonen, piano
BIT20 Ensemble
Baldur Br枚nnimann, conductor

脡tudes Book 3
White on white
Pour Irina
A bout de souffle
Canon
Danny Driver, piano

Melodien
Sch枚nberg Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

Producer: Johannah Smith