Ligeti: Musica Ricercata; Pieces

On this CD:

1. Musica ricercata, 11 pieces for piano
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti
Performed by Karl-Hermann Mrongovius, Begona Uriarte

2. Capriccio No. 1 for piano
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti
Performed by Begona Uriarte

3. Invention, for piano
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti
Performed by Begona Uriarte

4. Capriccio No. 2 for piano
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti
Performed by Karl-Hermann Mrongovius

5. Pieces (3) for 2 pianos: Monument, Selbstporträt, & Bewegung
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti
Performed by Karl-Hermann Mrongovius, Begona Uriarte

Ligeti: Musica Ricercata; Pieces, Music, Gyorgy Ligeti, Begona Uriarte, Karl-Hermann Mrongovius, Capriccio/Caprice for Keyboard, Classical, Classical Composers, Invention for Keyboard, Keyboard, Keyboard Work Entitled "Piece" or "Stück", Music for Two Keyboards

György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Etudes, Musica Ricercata) - Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Average customer rating:

A nice mico-view of Ligeti's work

Very Nice Piano Studies. Not the best Ligeti

Perfect Ligeti.

good cd

Ligeti on cd, hooray

György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Etudes, Musica Ricercata) - Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Ligeti, György | ( L ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Keyboard | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
Aimard, Pierre-Laurent | ( A ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
$7.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
Ligeti, György | ( L ) | Composers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
Aimard, Pierre-Laurent | ( A ) | Performers, A-Z | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
Instrumental | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

György Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets - Arditti String Quartet

György Ligeti Edition 2: A Cappella Choral Works - London Sinfonietta Voices

György Ligeti Edition 6: Keyboard Works (Piano, Harpsichord, Organ) - Irina Kataeva / Pierre-Laurent Aimard / Elisabeth Chojnacka / Zsigmond Szathmáry

Ligeti: Mechanical Music

The Ligeti Project II: Lontano / Atmosphères / Apparitions / San Francisco Polyphony / Concert Românesc - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Jonathan Nott

ASIN: B0000029P0
Release Date: 1997-01-21

Tracks:

Piano Etudes (Book One): I. De'sordre - Molto vivace, vigoroso, molto ritmico
Piano Etudes (Book One): II. Cordes a' vide - Andantino con moto, molto tenero
Piano Etudes (Book One): II. Touches bloque'es - Presto possibile, sempre molto ritmico
Piano Etudes (Book One): IV. Fanfares - Vivacissimo molto ritmico, con allegria e slancio
Piano Etudes (Book One): V. Arc-en-ciel - Andante molto rubato, con eleganza, with swing
Piano Etudes (Book One): VI. Automne a' Varsovie - Presto cantabile, molto ritmico e flessibile
Piano Etudes (Book Two): VII. Galamb borong - Vivacissimo luminoso, legato possibile
Piano Etudes (Book Two): VIII. Fe'm - Vivace risoluto, con vigore
Piano Etudes (Book Two): IX. Vertige - Prestissimo sempre molto legato, sehr gleichmassig
Piano Etudes (Book Two): X. Der Zauberlehrling - Prestissimo, staccatissimo, leggierissimo
Piano Etudes (Book Two): XI. En suspens - Andante con moto, (avec l`e'le'gance du swing)
Piano Etudes (Book Two): XII. Entrelacs - Vivacissimo molto ritmico, sempre legato, con delicatezza
Piano Etudes (Book Two): XIII. L'escalier du diable - Presto legato ma leggiero
Piano Etudes (Book Two): XIV. Coloana infinita' - Presto possibile, tempestoso con fuoco
Musica ricercata: I. Sosenuto - Misurato - Prestissimo
Musica ricercata: II. Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale
Musica ricercata: III. Allegro con spirito
Musica ricercata: IV. Tempo de Valse (poco vivace - a' l'orgue de Barbarie)
Musica ricercata: V. Rubato. Lamentoso
Musica ricercata: VI. Allegro molto capriccioso
Musica ricercata: VII. Cantabile, molto legato
Musica ricercata: VIII. Vivace. Energico
Musica ricercata: IX. Adagio. Mesto - Allegro maestoso
Musica ricercata: X. Vivace. Capriccioso
Musica ricercata: XI. Andante misurato e tranquillo
Piano Etudes (From Book Three): XV. White on White

Customer Reviews:

A nice mico-view of Ligeti's work.......2007-03-11

In the notes that accompany this CD, Ligeti explains that his piano compositions are the way he made up for his inadequacies as a player. It's hard to argue that he didn't reach his goal. These superbly-performed pieces provide a clear view of many aspects of Ligeti's work--his humor, his lyricism, his ear, and sometimes his little obsessions.

The most obvious technical requirement of this music is touch. In some of the etudes, complex voicings are required at very low dynamic levels. In others, the ability to bring out multiple voices is paramount. Aimard is perfect. His technique is so assured that we can easily get to the music and not be sidetracked by prowess.

Those who know Ligeti's music know how protean he could be. Like a good athlete, he was willing to take on enormous risks. Sometimes the result felt intellectualized and tiresome. But more often than not, the music soared. This is certainly true of the Etudes on this disk. They are studies in the truest sense of the word--one may focus on a particular set of intervals, another on a texture, yet another on a rhythm. Each one is fascinating and the collection holds together nicely. There are even hints of Nancarrow!

Ligeti himself felt ambiguously about the "Musica Ricercata", and it isn't hard to see why. The first piece is based on only two pitches (with octaves); the second on three and so on. It sort of proves a point, but what point? By the time you get to the fourth piece, it starts to get good, but the listener has to regain some flagging energy. The third piece is actually the basis of the opening of "6 Bagatelles for Wind Quintet".

So while I have little quibbles, I still recommend this disk strongly. It's great music, beautifully played.

Very Nice Piano Studies. Not the best Ligeti.......2006-09-02

Volume 3 of the Gyorgy Ligeti Edition on Sony has gotten a boatload of very positive reviews, above, from people who probably know a lot more about music, especially piano music, than I do, but I maintain, from my position as a rank amateur who just happens to like listening to a wide range of classical music, that this disc is neither the very best piano music nor the most interesting Ligeti.

Don't get me wrong. I think almost all of the studies on these tracks are good, maybe even almost as good as Chopin and Liszt, but I don't think so. We don't hum Ligeti etudes the way some people hum Chopin etudes or dances for piano. And, a few of the passages sound like the scene from 'Ghostbusters' where Bill Murray tickles the very high keys on Sigourny Weaver's piano as they enter her apartment to track down some particularly awesome apparitions of Zuel (sic) and Gozer (sic sic).

If you are looking to touch only the high points of Ligeti's music and don't have the compulsioin to own everything, you can pass on these and not be missing too much of the good stuff. Check out his choral and a capella works for the really hot stuff.

Perfect Ligeti........2005-10-19

The own György Ligeti was asked about who was the pianist more complete in his piano works; he talked about Pierre-Laurent Aimard, whose a close relation with the XXth Century music is very well known (Boulez, Messiaen, Berg, Schönberg, Carter...) all around the world. He talked too about Volker Banfield, who has recorded some of the Etudes for Wergo, but not so good as Aimard recordings, in my opinion.

What we find in this CD, 3rd of an outstanding series, is the technical perfection made piano playing, in the hands of Aimard, who plays absolutely all the notes full of perfection, sense and correction, from the dynamic to the tempo, from the correct attack to the prodigious use of the pedal. If you are used to a romantic piano you can feel this versions a little cold or dry, but this is because Aimard goes directly to the heart of the XXth Century style of piano playing, in the line that comes from Schönberg-Berg-Webern and that goes in a different way of playing than the century before, so you can be lost in some sense about the way he understand the use of the piano, the playing, the technique, the echoes, the silences...

You'll find in this CD the Musica Ricercata, a work from Ligeti's first period, very easy to understand for those who are not used to listen this kind of "modern" music. It has many folk motives, used in a way very close to Bartók's style. One of this pieces (Musica ricercata: II. Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale) was taken by Stanley Kubrick for his last film Eyes Wide Shut, with an outstanding presence in the film associated to the worries and pressure over the main character; Ligeti says about this piece that it was a knife against the stalinist regime because of this style of music, sinister, innovative and forgiven in the communist Europe. The film's version is slower than this by Aimard, more "cinematographic" but slower than the score asks. Aimard's version in this piece and in the full pieces are outstanding.

The rest of the CD it's based on the Etudes, books I & II, both of them complete. Those are pieces much more modern than the Musica Ricercata, some of them, in the words of Ligeti with some links and inspiration on Nancarrow's works. We are listening in this case some of the most complex works for piano written in the XXth Century, and many of them authentic jewels of the genre. The Aimard versions for Sony are the better I know from the French pianist, who have recorded some of them in other CDs, like his great recording from de Carnagie Hall (Warner), but not so good like this outstanding CD.

So, if you are looking for perfection in Ligeti's piano music performances don't doubt about this CD; if you want to discover the piano of the XXth Century this could be a great door to go into, because of the music, because of the performing and because of a perfect recording and booklet.

good cd.......2005-08-23

This is a great cd if you are interested in piano music. I personally enjoyed "Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale", which was most famously used in the Kubrick film, Eyes Wide Shut. The rest of the cd is very enjoyable as well.

Ligeti on cd, hooray.......2005-08-01

We all owe Stanley Kubrick a big debt of gratitude for exposing us to Ligeti who, with Cage and Stockhausen among others, influenced the evolution of popular music while maintaining a continuum to our classical past.

The recording quality in this series is outstanding, and it is a delight to see the breadth of this series. Having many works of Ligeti from the Wergo vinyl catalog of the 70's, I selected the piano works for the fun of discovery.

Those of you who enjoy this piano stuff should try to find Nina Deutsch's recording of Charles Ives: Solo Piano Music.

Average customer rating:

Report from the far reaches of the musical envelope.
Not great music, but fun
share Ligeti's fascination with mechanical things.
Better than it had any right to be
listen to with open ears

Ligeti: Mechanical Music
Gyorgy Ligeti , Pierre Charial , Jürgen Hocker , and Françoise Terrioux
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Inventions | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

György Ligeti Edition 6: Keyboard Works (Piano, Harpsichord, Organ) - Irina Kataeva / Pierre-Laurent Aimard / Elisabeth Chojnacka / Zsigmond Szathmáry
György Ligeti Edition 4: Vocal Works (Madrigals, Mysteries, Aventures, Songs) - The King's Singers / Philharmonia Orchestra / Esa-Pekka Salonen
György Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets - Arditti String Quartet
György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Etudes, Musica Ricercata) - Pierre-Laurent Aimard
György Ligeti Edition 2: A Cappella Choral Works - London Sinfonietta Voices

ASIN: B0000029P2
Release Date: 1997-05-20

Tracks:

Adaptations For Barrel Organ: Continuum
Adaptations For Barrel Organ: Hungarian Rock
Adaptations For Barrel Organ: Capriccio No. 1
Adaptations For Barrel Organ: Invention
Adaptations For Barrel Organ: Copriccio No. 2
Poeme Symphonique for 100 Metronomes
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: I. Sostenuuto - Misurato - Prestissimo
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: II. Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: III. Allegro con spirito
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: IV. Temp de Valse (poco vivace - (a l'orgue de barbarie))
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: V. Rubato. Lementoso
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: VI. Allegro molto capriccioso
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: VII. Cantabile, molto legato
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: VIII. Vivace. Energico
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: IX. (Bela Bartok in memoriam) Adagio. Mesto - Allegro maestoso
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: X. Vivace. Capriccioso
Adaptation For Barrel Organ: IX. (Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi) Andante misurato e tranquillo
Adaptations For Player Piano: X. Der Zauberlehrling
Adaptations For Player Piano: IX. Vertige
Adaptations For Player Piano: XI. En suspens
Adaptations For Player Piano: XIII, L'escalier du diable
Adaptations For Player Piano: XIVa. Coloana fara sfarsit
Adaptations For Player Piano: VII. Galamb borong - Adapted For 2 Player Pianos
Adaptations For Player Piano: Continuum - Adapted For 2 Player pianos

Amazon.com essential recording

Although Gyorgy Ligeti is best known for his eerie, tonally ambiguous choral and orchestral writing (immortalized in 2001: A Space Odyssey), this collection of works for musical automata--player piano, barrel organ, and metronomes--includes some of his most astonishing music. The player piano pieces are an exhilarating, intensely physical roller-coaster ride through superhuman tempi and dynamic extremes--an intriguing marriage of artifice and human invention. While clearly indebted to the influence of Nancarrow, Ligeti's player piano works are more approachable than Nancarrow's rigorous etudes, revealing the sense of humor that distinguishes Ligeti from his more ponderous contemporaries. Likewise, the controversial prank piece Metronomes foreshadows the phasing experiments of Reich with its intricate cross-rhythms created by metronomes marking time simultaneously at different speeds. Perhaps most fascinating of all are Ligeti's compositions for computer-modified barrel organ--a hand-cranked, calliope-like instrument popular with itinerant musicians in the 1700s. --Dennis Rea

Customer Reviews:

Report from the far reaches of the musical envelope........2006-08-29

This recording of Gyorgy Ligeti's 'Mechanical Music' gets five stars from me only because I happen to like this sort of thing, and 'good' music of this type which pushes the envelope in one direction or another is hard to come by. My immediate reaction to it is the amount of similarity I hear in some of the works to those of Frank Zappa's more serious instrumentals, especially to his 'signature' tune, 'Peaches En Regalia'. If I didn't know Sir Frank was heavily influenced by Edgar Varese, I would have started looking for Hungarian skeletens in the Zappa closet.

I will say that if you are not a nut on having the 'complete' set of things, this CD is less interesting than Ligeti's vocal works, but just a bit more interesting than his conventional instrumental works.

Not great music, but fun.......2006-02-16

Of Marcel Duchamp's powerful "Nude Descending a Staircase," an unfriendly (but perceptive) critic said a better title would have been "Explosion in a Shingle Factory." I'd suggest that Ligeti's Poeme Symphonique for 200 Metronomes might more descriptively be titled "Tone Poem: Waiting Out a Twenty-Minute Hailstorm in a Tin Shack."

That said, the album is fun. Some of the barrel organ works have a whimsicality that's appropriate for this instrument (which sometimes produces a sound that I can only describe as watery). It's interesting to hear Ligeti's already-strange Musica Ricercata pieces scored for barrel organ. No one of these pieces, however, carries a lot of emotional power.

share Ligeti's fascination with mechanical things........2004-01-30

First off, I should inform you that Sony's Ligeti Edition series is being deleted so if you're interested in this stuff, you should pick up the ones you want as soon as you can. Ligeti Edition 5 is a good one. No, it's AWESOME. If you have any interest in "mechanical music," this should be essential.

Poeme Symphonique for 100 Metronomes was the main thing I wanted to hear on this collection. The piece starts with 100 metronomes ticking in a dense, ordered mass of monotone ticks. As the piece progresses, as some of the metronomes finish winding down, distinct rhythmic arrangements begin to emerge, swaying and wavy and disorienting. (You can also play a good trick on someone: play this piece in their car and they'll think the vehicle is about to explode or something.) Finally, one metronome is left ticking alone, then silence. The concept seemed utterly fascinating so I knew it was something I had to check out. Fortunately, it is more than just an idea that sounds good on paper - it is a very enthralling piece of music. In the liner notes, Ligeti discusses the thermodynamic category of maximal entropy, which factored into his considerations in composing this piece. That's interesting, because in his work on "dissipative structures," Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine theorized that a given system might reach a "bifurcation point," at which its simpler processes can no longer provide for order. At this point, Prigogine tells us, the system can either go into a total, entropic collapse, or evolve into a higher form of order. The second law of thermodynamics (on which our understanding of entropy is based) may not be as relevant as Prigogine's insights. Rather than coming to maximal entropy upon the finale of the single metronome, we can think of it as a new beginning. It's kind of inspirational in its own weird little way. To get the most out of it, play it on your finest stereo equipment at massive volumes and drown in the sound (gotta emulate the live performance anyway you can).

Another highlight of this collection as Ligeti's piano Etudes adapted for player piano. In standard form, the Etudes demand reams of virtuosity. Here, they are rearranged for player piano where there are no limits imposed by the performer - even the godlike Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Fredrik Ullen are still MEN, and thus have man's limitations. Needless to say, these adaptations are stunning and astonishingly fast, from the head-spinning runs of L'escalier du diable to the astonishing gamelan texture of Galamb borong (for two player pianos). Also of interest is Continuum, adapted for two player pianos. It takes the blurry prestissimo to unreal speeds (it cannot actually be played fast enough on standard piano - the original was written for harpsichord).

The barrel organ pieces are very amusing adaptations of early Ligeti with shadows of Bartok, and they are full of the original pieces' rhythmic ingenuity and vigor, but with flawless mechanical precision and tone control. I think a big reason for my enjoying them is their quirky sound. As for Musica ricercata, personally I'd rather listen to Aimard's piano version (on Ligeti Edition 3), but the barrel organ adaptation is a pretty interesting spin on the piece, with an arrangement that gives it a very different flavor. The barrel organ also makes them sound kinda proggy, hehe.

Get it. Remember, this stuff's going out of print, and Ligeti is so good you don't want to miss your opportunity to have his music!

Better than it had any right to be.......2003-11-26

I stalled for a long time on buying this disc because the general premise didn't seem attractive. 40 minutes of arrangements for barrel organ (mainly of early Ligeti), 15 of arrangements for player piano and a 20-minute piece for 100 metronomes just didn't seem much like fun. In part I was right, but there are also some surprising successes in store for the listener.

Continuum and Hungarian Rock are both harpsichord pieces: one a frenetic pattern-illusion toccata, the other a piece of faux-naif postmodern pastiche. Both come off very well in barrel organ transcription--it's so much easier to hear details that tend to get lost in live performance. Three early piano pieces follow in barrel organ transcriptions: the Capriccio #1 and Invention are not greatly interesting, but Pierre Charial's barrel organ version of the second Capriccio finds depths--and premonitions of later Ligeti--in it that have so far been missed by live interpreters.

The Poeme Symphonique might well be Ligeti's most controversial piece, and it's a comparatively rare venture into Dadaism. Essentially, all the performance involves is queuing up 100 metronomes at different speeds and waiting for them to run down. It's actually more musically interesting than one would expect--patterns emerge from a blur before the rhythms become more and more regular at the end--but it's unlikely to be a piece the listener is likely to return to. (In truth, it works much better live, treated as an installation.)

The barrel organ transcription of Musica ricercata for piano doesn't add very much to the original. One or two pieces--particularly the seventh--do benefit from having new light drawn on them, but in general I'd rather hear a pianist play it (particularly Aimard in his excellent performances on volume 3 of this edition).

The disc ends with player piano transcriptions. Der Zauberlehring, Vertige, En suspens and L'escalier du diable all appear much faster here than on recordings with human pianists. L'escalier, in particular, gives a tremendous sheer visceral thrill, though I miss the expressiveness of a live pianist. Coloana fara sfarasit is actually intended for a player piano, as Ligeti found it was too hard for a real pianist to play. It's a splendidly exhilarating ride, and I hope one day a super-virtuoso will be found who can play it on the piano. The two transcriptions for two antiphonally divided player pianos are not so interesting: Galamb borong gains little from the arrangement, while the version of Continuum that closes the disc isn't nearly as fun as the one that opens it.

I enjoyed this disc, though it's not one I return to very often. If you like the concept, I would recommend this recording--though buy it sooner rather than later as Sony's website no longer lists this disc as in print.

listen to with open ears.......2003-06-04

This cd is very interesting to listen to. Wow the barrel organ is a little different but it adds another view to Ligeti's music. Now for Poeme Symphonique for 100 metronomes, i didn't know how i would go with this piece. First time was like wow different but the second time started to hear something very personal.Music is what you make it

Average customer rating:

The last, and least, of the Ligeti Project

The Ligeti Project, Vol. 5
Gyorgy Ligeti , Asko , Schoenberg , De Leeuw , and Leonard
Manufacturer: Teldec
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Ligeti Project IV: Hamburg Concerto (Horn Concerto) / Double Concerto / Ramifications / Requiem
The Ligeti Project III: Cello Concerto / Clocks & Clouds / Violin Concerto / Síppal, Dobbal, Nádihegedüvel
The Ligeti Project I: Melodien / Chamber Concerto / Piano Concerto / Mysteries of the Macabre - Schönberg Ensemble / ASKO Ensemble / Reinbert de Leeuw
The Ligeti Project II: Lontano / Atmosphères / Apparitions / San Francisco Polyphony / Concert Românesc - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Jonathan Nott
György Ligeti Edition 4: Vocal Works (Madrigals, Mysteries, Aventures, Songs) - The King's Singers / Philharmonia Orchestra / Esa-Pekka Salonen

ASIN: B00008LODX
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Tracks:

Aventures 10ft. 40in.
Nouvelles Aventures I
Nouvelles Aventures II
Artikulation For Tape
I Sostenuto
II Allegro Con Spirito
III Tempo Di Valse (Poco Vivace - A L'orgue De Barbarie)
IV Con Moto, Giusto - Cantabile, Molto legato
V Vivace. Energico
VI (Bela Bartok In Memoriam) Adagio. Mesto - Allegretto Maestoso
VII Vivace. Capriccioso
VIII (Omaggio A Girolamo Frescobaldi) Andante Misurato E Tranquillo
I Dialogo. Adagio, Rubato, Cantabile
II Capriccio. Presto Con Slancio
The Big Turtle Fanfare From The South China Sea
Andantino
Allegro Vivace, Energisch
Regi Magyar Tarsas Tancok (Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances)

Customer Reviews:

The last, and least, of the Ligeti Project.......2004-09-28

LIGETI PROJECT V marks the end of the collection--first started by Sony's "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition"--of Gyorgy Ligeti's works in performances overseen by the composer himself. This final installment contains new renditions of some material that has appeared before in the collection, as well as several early works, all performed as usual by the Asko and Schoenberg ensembles. I found it to be somewhat disappointing for what is present, since a lot of this has appeared before in only slightly different form, and even for for what was *not* included.

"Aventures" and "Nouvelles Aventures" are an evolution beyond Ligeti's early vocal works. Ligeti no longer uses a specific text to express emotion, instead inventing his own universal language. Though the words the singers are singing (written with IPA in the score) are nonsensical, the basic emotions come through quite clearly in this drama. As fascinating as the experiment is, however, it is somewhat frustrating to simply listen to a recording, as the visual element is lost. The baritone, Omar Ebrahim, may be familiar to some from his spoken-word performance in Peter Eotvos' "Sketches of a conversation". These two pieces have appeared before on "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition 4: Vocal Works", but this is a live recording and apparently it creates such a different ambience that the pieces are worth including again.

"Artikulation" is one of Ligeti's three forays into electronic music, composed in Cologne in 1958 after Ligeti had fled Hungary. The piece was realised under the patronship of Karlheinz Stockhausen and a young Cornelius Cardew, who would later go on to become England's first Maoist composer, served as recording engineer. This is the original recording from 1958, but it has been down-mixed from quadraphonic to stereo. It's interesting listening, though I would have liked to see the project try to create a new "performance."

I was eagerly awaiting the appearance of "Sonata for Cello Solo." It is one of Ligeti's earliest works, with a first Dialogo composed while he was a student at the conservatory in Cluj. It is one of the most beautiful things Ligeti has ever done. A Capriccio followed five years later, and foretells Ligeti's avant-garde string works. This forms, I think, the best piece on this disc. David Gerinas' performance is great, but check out the recent reissue on DG as well.

"Musica Ricercata", originally a piano sequence written in the 1950's, appears here in an arrangement by instrumentalist May Bonnay for bayan, a type of Russian accordian for which Sofia Gubaidulina also has composed. Only eight pieces from the original work are represented, "Mesto, rigide e cerimoniale" would be, I suppose, too challenging for an accordian arrangement. "Musica Ricercata" would have been just fine had Ligeti not gone on to write his stunning Piano Etudes, but I find the piece to be rather uninventive and this bayan arrangement unappealing.

"The Big Turtle Fanfare from the South China Sea" is a short (45-second) piece for solo trumpet, part of the score Ligeti had composed for a puppet opera in the early 1950's. It is merely a cute curiosity and adds little to the disc.

"Balada Si Joc" dates from Ligeti's brief return to his native Transylvania in 1950 for ethnomusical studies. Faux folk music, it contains much of the same material as "Concert Romanesc". The piece has appeared before on "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets", but the arrangement here is for school orchestra and sounds much richer and fuller.

I don't even know what to say about ""Regi Magyar Tarsas Tancok" (Old Hungarian Ballroom Dances). They are not even Ligeti's own work, but rather arrangements by him of the schmaltzy dancehall hits of the Biedermeier period (around 1800). This music is so very dull, not something I want to hear on a disc with Ligeti's name on it. Coming last, it leaves one with a bad impression of this final installment.

All in all, I'm unhappy that the series is over. There are still works yet to be collected, such as his electronic piece "Glissandi" supressed as juvenalia, Book Three of his Piano Etudes, and the variant arrangement of "Ramifications". Still, the entire Ligeti Project series is worth collecting (as is the earlier Gyorgy Ligeti Edition on Sony). The one gets a two-star rating mostly because of the lackluster ballroom dances and the missing Etudes, and the one thing that really saves it is the "Cello Sonata" and "Artikulation". Pick it up after you've got all the others.

Average customer rating:

Unheralded brilliance
Excellent!!!!!!!

Messiaen, Carl Vine, Respighi & Ligeti

Manufacturer: Pro-Piano Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Scarlatti Sonatas

ASIN: B00000DMV0
Release Date: 1998-10-13

Tracks:

From 'Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus': XI. Premiere Communion De La Vierge
From 'Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus': XIII. Noel
From 'Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus': XV. Le Baiser De L'Enfant Jesus
Son: I.
Son: II. Leggiero E Legato
From 'Three Preludes On Gregorian Melodies': No. 1 Molto Lento
Notturno
From Musica Ricercata: I. Sostenuto-Stringendo-Prestissimo-Sostenuto
From Musica Ricercata: III. Allegro Con Spirito
From Musica Ricercata: VII. Quiero (Poco Rubato)-Cantabile-Molto Legato

Album Description

Sergei Babayan, Piano
Olivier Messiaen (1867-1916): From "Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus" (1944)
XI. Première communion de la Vierge
XIII. Noël
XV. Le baise de l'Enfant Jésus

Carl Vine (born 1954): Sonata (1990)
I.
II. Leggiero e legato

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): From "There Preludes on Gregorian Melodies" (1921)
No. 1 Molto lento
notturno

György Ligeti (born 1923): From Musica Ricercata (1951-1953)
I. Sostenuto-Stringendo-Prestissimo-Sostenuto
III. Allegro con spirito
VII. Quieto (poco rubato)-Cantabile-Molto legato

Respighi: Notturno

Customer Reviews:

Unheralded brilliance.......2004-07-08

A couple of friends sent me this CD, justifiably effusive about it, and I must agree with them: this is one hot pianist. The first-prize winner in the 1989 Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition, Sergei Babayan is apparently well known to connoisseurs of fine piano playing, but from the evidence here, deserves the widest possible audience. His amazingly strong technique is well presented by Pro Piano Records' sound here, too, which which puts you right up near the instrument. (The recording itself was made in Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.)

Babayan's unusual menu begins with three selections from Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus (sections 11, 13, and 15) with the pianist bringing out every piercing emotion in these monumental works. Let's hope that at some point he will record the entire cycle. Perhaps most unusual is Carl Vine's Piano Sonata, written in 1990 for the Sydney Dance Company. (This work must have been a choreographer's dream.) It is a real dazzler, with relentless, darting cross rhythms that tickle the ear, and I don't think it is premature to call it one of the great piano sonatas of the 1990's. The two Respighi pieces are also alluring, with Babayan finding just the right touch to express their delicate, luminous sonorities. They also make a nice break between some of the more intense (and difficult) works before and after them.

Perhaps the best are saved until last: selections 1, 3 and 7 from Ligeti's Musica Ricercata, written in the 1950's. Ligeti posed himself the problem of writing a cycle of short piano works in which No. 1 dwells on a single note (in this case, A), escalating in complexity all the way to the final one, No. 11, which uses all 12 notes in the octave. If you can't imagine how anyone could create music under such restrictions, here is the evidence.

One of my first thoughts after hearing this marvelous project was to muse on how many pianists are out there doing terrific work, virtually out of sight of the general public. Babayan is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and to be heartily commended for his commitment to nurturing young pianists. But I do hope he carves out more time in the recording studio. For most listeners, this little-known, spectacularly talented artist will be a real find.

Excellent!!!!!!!.......2001-03-05

Upon my first listening to this CD, I thought it was incredible. The only pieces that I had heard before were the Respighi Notturno, and the Musica Ricercata by Ligeti. I havent spent much time listening to the Messaien, but, what i have heard is extremely good. The Carl Vine Sonata is an AMAZING piece!! I had heard his name before, but not any of his music. Babayan plays it extremely well. His technique is incredible. I would definitely buy this cd if you are interested in good piano music or post-modern style music.

Average customer rating:

Ullen is simply brilliant

Ligeti: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Ligeti: Etudes Book I & II/Invention/Due Capricci/Trois Bagatelles/Chromatische Phantasie
György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Etudes, Musica Ricercata) - Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Kaikhosru Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 1-25
Ligeti: Complete Piano Music
The Ligeti Project III: Cello Concerto / Clocks & Clouds / Violin Concerto / Síppal, Dobbal, Nádihegedüvel

ASIN: B00000FY07
Release Date: 1998-12-02

Tracks:

1. Sostenuto
2. Mesto, Rigido E Cerimoniale
3. Allegro Con Spirito
4. Tempo Di Valse (Poco Vivace-'A L'Orgue De Barbarie')
5. Rubato. Lamentoso
6. Allegro Molto Capriccioso
7. Cantabile, Molto Legato
8. Vivace. Energico
9. Adagio Mesto (Bela Bartok In Memoriam)
10. Vivace. Capriccioso
11. Andante Misurato E Tranquillo (Omaggio A Girolamo Frescobaldi)
I. Allegro
Sonatina: II. Andante
III. Vivace
Trefas Indulo
Polyphonic Etude
1. A Kapuban A Szeker
2. Hopp Ide Tisztan
3. Csango Forgos
Allegro
1. Monument
2. Selbstportrait Mit Reich Und Riley
3. In Zart Fliebender Bewegung
Etude No. 15, 'White On White'
Etude No. 16, 'Pour Irina'

Customer Reviews:

Ullen is simply brilliant.......1999-08-13

A super pianist. Hard to imagine better performances and the recorded sound is warm and spacious.

Ligeti: Musica Ricercata; String quartet No1

Average customer rating:

Ligeti: Musica Ricercata; String quartet No1

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000166O
Release Date: 1994-03-25

Tracks:

Calmo, Con Tenerezza - Elgar Howarth
Double Con: Allegro Corrente - Elgar Howarth
San Francisco Polyphony - Symphony Orchestra
'Metamorphoses Nocturnes' - Voces Intimae String Quartet
Continuum - Eva Nordwall
I. Sostenuto-Stringendo-Prestissimo-Sostenuto
II. Mesto. Parlando-Piu Mosso-Tempo I
III. Allegro Con Spirito
IV. Tempo Di Valse (Poco Animato)
V. Rubato, Lamentoso
VI. Allegro Un Poco Capriccioso
VII. Quieto (Poco Rubato). Cantabile. Molto Legato
VIII. Preso Energico
IX. Adagio. Mesto-Allegro Maesto-Piu Mosso. Agitato-Tempo I
X. Vivace. Capriccioso
XI. Andante Misurato E Tranquillo

Average customer rating:

Wonderful, if pricey

Ligeti: Musica Ricercata; Pieces

Manufacturer: Wergo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Inventions | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005WB6
Release Date: 1993-12-08

Tracks:

Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Sostenuto - Misurato, stringendo poco a poco sin al prestissimo
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 2: Mesto, Parlando
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier)lavier: Allegro con spirito
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Tempo di valse (poco animato)
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 5: Rubato. Lamentoso
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 6: Allegro un poco capriccioso
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 7: Con moto giusto
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 8: Vivace. Energico
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 9: Adagio. Mesto (Bela Bartok in memoriam)
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 10: Vivace. Capriccioso
Musica Ricercata (11 Stucke fur Klavier): Nr. 11: Andante mirurato e tranquilla (Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi)
Capriccio Nr. 1 (1947)
Invention (1948)
Capriccio Nr. 2 (1947)
Monument
Selpsportrait mit Reich und RIley
In zart fliessender Bewegung

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, if pricey.......2001-03-10

Fans of EYES WIDE SHUT will recognize the hauntingly repeated piano solo as the second movement of Ligeti's Musica Ricercata, a sequence of short pieces in which each movement incorporates one more degree of the scale: the first makes use of only two notes, while the last utilizes all twelve. This may sound like an arid and emptily intellectual exercise, but the overall effect is something else entirely, especially in this performance, livelier than the comparable one in Sony Classical's complete Ligeti edition.