Ligeti: String Quartets 1 & 2

On this CD:

1. String Quartet No. 1 ("Métamorphoses nocturnes"), for string quartet
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti

2. String Quartet No. 2, for string quartet
Composed by Gyorgy Ligeti

Ligeti: String Quartets 1 & 2, Music, Gyorgy Ligeti, Chamber, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Quartet for Four String Instruments

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

Important, but not as interesting as the vocal works.

Not really my style...

String works, includes his must-have glorious Second Quartet

Great Recordings of Modern String Quartets

you must listen to Ligeti.

György Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets - Arditti String Quartet
Gyorgy Ligeti , David Alberman , Irvine Arditti , Garth Knox , Rohan deSaram , and Arditti String Quartet
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000029OY
Release Date: 1997-01-21

Tracks:

String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Allegro Grazioso
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Vivace, Capriccioso
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Adagio, Mesto
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Presto
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Andante Tranquillo
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Tempo Di Valse, Moderato, Con Eleganza, Un Poco Capriccioso
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Allegretto, Un Poco Gioviale
String Quartet No. 1 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes': Prestissimo
String Quartet No. 2: Allegro Nervoso
String Quartet No. 2: Sostenuto, Molto Calmo
String Quartet No. 2: Come Un Meccanismo Di Precisione
String Quartet No. 2: Presto Furioso, Brutale, Tumultuoso
String Quartet No. 2: Allegro Con Delicatezza
Hommage A Hilding Rosenberg
Balada Si Joc: Balada Andante
Balada Si Joc: Allegro Vivace
Andante And Allegretto: Andante Cantabile
Andante And Allegretto: Allegretto Poco Capriccioso

Amazon.com essential recording

This is a fine collection of moving, muscular performances by this seminal postwar composer. Surely the best known of the works on this disc is the Second String Quartet, one of the masterpieces of 20th-century music--although you might not know it's a masterpiece until the heartbreaking last movement. But the First String Quartet, written before Ligeti emigrated from Hungary to the West, is fascinating: it shows Ligeti working through the influence of Bartók, particularly Bartók's Third and Fourth Quartets--music Ligeti knew only silently, from the score, since performances of Bartók's music were banned by the Hungarian communist regime. This excellent recording provides a complete overview of Ligeti's compositional career through the medium of string chamber music, from homages to Bartók to the achievement of Ligeti's own groundbreaking style. --Joshua Cody

Customer Reviews:

Important, but not as interesting as the vocal works........2006-08-30

Sony's "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duos" is the first in this series of, I believe, complete works by Ligeti, but it is always the third or fourth disk I go to whenever I get around to listening to Ligeti once again, about once every year.

To me, the average amateur 'classical music' consumer, it is interesting, imaginative, and certainly 'new' when compared to 19th and early 20th century music, but it just doesn't seem to have the same cachet as the vocal works. While I would sooner listen to Ligeti's vocal works than most other modern music, I actually prefer Bartok, Berg, and Schoenberg for their instrumental works.

I agree with the top reviewer that the String Quartet No. 2 is the hit of the disk, but it doesn't blow me away in the same way that 'Lux Aeterna' does. That may be just the '2001' factor at work, but there you have it.

Still excellent and still evocative of other modernists, not the least of whom is Frank Zappa.

Not really my style..........2006-08-23

This is a little too avant garde for me. I like my classical music to be just that: classical.

I bought the CD but I am returning it. Ligeti is very talented but his music (to me) is only tolerable in short bursts. I couldn't see myself listening to the whole CD time and again.

String works, includes his must-have glorious Second Quartet.......2004-12-07

Sony's "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duos" is the first disc of the 13-volume series--continued after the 8th installment by Teldec's "The Ligeti Project"---of Gyorgy Ligeti's collected works in performances overseen by the composer itself. It collects his impressive two strings quartets, a brief birthday greeting to another composer, a work inspired by an ethnomusical stint in Romania, and another early work. The works are performed by the Arditti Quartet, who have done so much to provide satisfying and lasting performances of modern string repetoire.

String Quartet No. 1 ("Metamorphoses nocturnes") was written between 1953 and 1954, as the composer was struggling to express himself creatively in Stalinist Hungary. The work shows clear inspiration from Bartok's third and fourth quartets, which Ligeti knew only from their score as they had been suppressed. Similarly, Ligeti had no hope his own work would be performed, and it was written essentially "for his desk drawer". Ironically, when Ligeti submitted the piece to a Western competition, it was deemed too traditional for recognition. This first string quartet is a study in the juxtaposition of unlike sections; under a thin verneer of normality, the music is heterogenous. I think this is a fine work, and it is one of the composer's few pre-emigration pieces that do not sound like juvenalia in comparison with his later works.

String Quartet No. 2 (1968) was composed long after Ligeti's move to the West and so is entirely avant-garde, linked with the techniques of his other works of the 1960's. Ligeti was quite proud of this piece, claiming it as his favourite of his works of the time, and feeling that he had made a permanent contribution to the string quartet tradition. The work is indeed a part of his micropolyphonic style of the 1960's, but there is a great deal more here. It is a twitching, paranoid, nervous, neurotic piece with a grimy, constantly shifting texture, like the soundtrack to a Kafka story. It really must be heard to be believed, and this second quartet is the high point of this disc.

"Hommage a Hilding Rosenburg" for violin and cello (1982) is a short birthday greeting to that Swedish composer. It is the least important work on the disc and is really nothing more than something of a fanfare.

"Balada si joc" for two violins (Romanian "Ballad and dance", 1950) is a short string duet inspired by Ligeti's time spent in Romania collecting folk music during his music studies. The result uses no actual folk material, but is an authentic imitation of the music Ligeti encountered both in his boyhood and in his return to Transylvania at this later time. When it was later expanded to use an orchestra, it became the first two movements of his "Concert Romanesc" (found on "The Ligeti Project II"). The string duet, however, manages to create with but two instruments nearly the same moving passion as the later orchestration. The following "Andante and Allegretto" for string quartet (1950) is another early work, again inspired by folk music. It is not as successful as "Balada si joc", indeed even forgettable.

While there are other recordings of these works available, such as the recent recordings reissued in Deutsche Grammaphon's "Echo 20/21" series, this performance by the Arditti Quartet can certainly be seen as definitive. It takes a lot of talent to please Ligeti, one of the most demanding composers, especially in a crushingly difficult work like the second string quartet.

While I think "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition 3: Piano Works" or "The Ligeti Project IV" are better places to begin on this series of Ligeti's collected works, this set of string works should be one of the first Ligeti works you buy, especially for the String Quartet No. 2.

Great Recordings of Modern String Quartets.......2004-08-07

For those of you who haven't experienced Ligeti, this is the CD to purchase, especially if you like string quartets. If you're not accustomed to 20th century music, keep an opened mind and I promise you'll really enjoy his music.

The recording of the 2nd quartet is, as usual with the Arditti Quartet, phenomenal, but what makes this recording is their production of his 1st quartet. The performance is very clean and precise, yet still very musical. Most impressive of all, Arditti stays true to Ligeti's tempi, including the blistering tempo of the end!

As an added bonus, there are two very delightful duets for violins, which are very tonal and based on Hungarian folk tunes (these were written as part of graduation from the Budapest Academy of Music).

you must listen to Ligeti........2004-03-06

Listening to Ligeti has been invaluable, for his music has brought me to a higher level of musical understanding. Just listen to these string quartets, for example. The aggressive, chromatic Bartokian first string quartet is incredible by itself. But then the ever-transforming second quartet is ever better, musically enlightening and original and yet still a work of passion. Ligeti describes the piece's nature as something where "there is no longer any motivic writing in this music, no contours, only sound textures, which are sometimes frayed and almost fluid (as in the first and last movements) and at other times grainy and machine-like (as in the middle pizzicato movement)." The performances and recording are mind-blowing. "Add to cart."

Average customer rating:

Ligeti: String Quartets 1 & 2

Manufacturer: Virgin Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000A7SBOA
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Tracks:

Allegro Grazioso
Vivace, Capriccioso
Adagio, Mesto
Presto
Prestissimo
Andante Tranquillo
Tempo Di Valse, Moderato, Con Eleganza, Un Poco Capriccioso
Subito Prestissimo
Allegretto, Un Poco Gioviale
Prestissimo
Ad Libitum, Senza Misura
Lento
Allegro Nervoso
Sostenuto, Molto Calmo
Come Un Meccanismo Di Precisione
Presto Furioso, brutale, Tumultuoso
Allegro Con Delicatezza

Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Ramifications

Average customer rating:

Great Ligeti CD
Good performances, great pieces, and excellent sound quality
An excellent Ligeti compilation

Ligeti: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Ramifications

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The 20th-Century Cello
György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano (Etudes, Musica Ricercata) - Pierre-Laurent Aimard

ASIN: B0000D9R0D
Release Date: 2003-11-11

Tracks:

Allegro Grazioso
Vivace, Capriccioso
A Tempo
Adagio, Mesto
Presto
(...) Molto Sostenuto - Andante Tranquillo
Piu Mosso
Tempo Di Valse, Moderato, Con Eleganza, Un Poco Capriccioso
Subito Prestissimo
Subito: Molto Sostenuto
Allegretto, Un Poco Gioviale
Allarg. Poco Piu Mosso
Subito Allegro Con Moto, String. Poco A Poco Sin Al Prestissimo
Prestissimo
Allegro Comodo, Gioviale
Sostenuto, Accelerando
Lento
Allegro Nervoso - LaSalle Quartet
Sostenuto, Molto Calmo - LaSalle Quartet
Come Un Meccanismo Di Precisione - LaSalle Quartet
Presto Furioso, Brutale, Tumultuoso - LaSalle Quartet
Allegro Con Delicatezza - Stets Sehr Mild - LaSalle Quartet
Ramifications - Matt Haimovitz
1. Dialogo: Adagio, Rubato, Cantabile - Matt Haimovitz
2. Capriccio: Presto Con Slancio - Matt Haimovitz
Melodien - London Sinfonietta

Customer Reviews:

Great Ligeti CD.......2004-10-12

This CD gives a great sampling of music from across Ligeti's career. The first two string quartets are beautiful and the Cello sonata is an unusual (and under-played) piece from when Ligeti was a student. Matt Haimovitz's performance of this piece is the best out there.
The last track, Melodien, is a more typical piece for Ligeti. It sounds quite a bit like some of his music used in 2001: A Space Odyssey and is in his recognizable "sound-mass" style.

This CD also comes with interesting notes about the music and some nice photos of Ligeti himself. The only downside is the packaging -- instead of a normal jewel case this CD comes in a cardboard flip-cover case that doesn't snap shut. Be careful if you put it in your backpack.

Good performances, great pieces, and excellent sound quality.......2004-03-15

Ligeti's "String Quartet 1 (Metamorphoses noctunes)" is wonderful, an avant-garde and experimental work which never quite departs from easy listenability and enjoyment. He constantly builds peaks of sound and then reduces them for a few moments of tranquil repose. The Hagen Quartett's performance is very strong and steady, but I rather prefer the Arditti Quartet's performance of the piece (released on the first volume of Sony Classical's "Gyorgy Ligeti Edition"), which is more frenetic and does a great job of emphasing the hairpin turns and idiosyncracy of the work.

Ligeti's "String Quartet No. 2", dating from fifteen years after the first, is solid, though perhaps a little disappointing in comparison to the first. Ligeti claims it is a vast survey of the entire string quartet tradition compressed into a form much smaller than his first string quartet. There are rapid shifts from style to style, and little collaboration between each of the players. This proves a very slippery piece, and I've never gotten hold of it.

"Ramifications" (1968-69) is a minor work in which half of its twelve solo strings are tunes a quarter-tone lower than the other half. Ligeti then explores the surreal interaction among the strings. While it is something of a novelty and not a major piece, this is a wonderful use of his micropolyphony technique, and the performance led by Pierre Boulez (himself a influential contemporary composer as well as a conductor) is one of the best recordings of it.

The "Sonata for Solo Cello" is one of Ligeti's earliest works, dating from 1947, and its first half will strike the listener as, well, rather conventional. It is a sweet use of a moving instrument that Ligeti studied while attending the conservatory in Kolozsvar in Transylvania. The second part, added six years later, shows a much more daring and witty composer at work and in fact may be said to accompany the string quartets.

"Melodien" is an ironic piece. While early Ligeti works, such as "Musica Ricercata" resisted the creative vacuity of Hungary's Stalin-imposed socialist realism, this piece rebels against the excesses of his own avant-garde fellows. While many contemporary composers where eschewing melody, Ligeti gives us here over 10 minutes of pure melodies, with a beautiful colour which Ligeti has called "iridescent and metalic". The highs get higher and the lows get lower, and the work eventually diffuses into nothingness. This performance by the London Sinfonietta is superb, and I would definitely recommend it over the Schoenberg Ensemble's 2000 recording in the first volume of Teldec's "The Ligeti Project", whose sound I find unimpressive.

Some of the recordings here are from as long ago as 1975, but Deutsche Gramaphone's Ligeti reissues tend to often sound better than more recent ones. Recent recordings indeed are worth getting, many are supervised by Ligeti himself (and contain liner notes written by him), but these reissued classics will make a worthy addition to one's collection.

An excellent Ligeti compilation.......2003-11-21

This, the second collection of reissued Ligeti recordings in DG's 20/21 echo series, sensibly collects recordings of the two string quartets together with three other works.

The first quartet is one of Ligeti's earliest major works. In a highly rhapsodic single movement, written in a post-Bartokian language, Ligeti transforms the initial material (hence the subtitle 'Metamorphoses Nocturnes') into a variety of different forms and shapes. This is an outstanding achievement from a composer who was only 30 at the time--only once or twice does the music fall below a very high standard, and the Hagen Quartet bring it off well. If I prefer the more assertive recording from the Arditti Quartet, it is only by a small margin.

The second quartet is a major, mature masterpiece. It is written in five movement, each of which (except, obviously, for the last) ends by pre-echoing the language of the following movement. The first movement is fragmentary and rhythmically irregular; the second extremely slow, as if a Bartokian nachtmusik had been stretched out as far as it could go. The third movement is mechanical and repetitive, and it leads directly into a dark, menacing fourth movement which compresses together all the material heard thusfar. The finale releases the tension, spreading out in clouds of harmonies as it brings the work to a close. The LaSalle Quartet's reading here--captured soon after the work was premiered--is exceptional, though once again the Ardittis' Sony recording is marginally to be preferred.

Ramifications is a minor work for twelve solo strings. In it, the strings are split into two separate groups, one tuned a quarter-tone apart from the other. The intention is that the tuning of the two ensembles will slowly drift together, creating sonic interference and interesting harmonies. I think the work is more interesting in design than execution, but Boulez directs an effective performance.

The cello sonata is another minor work, though this time from early in Ligeti's career. The first movement is slow and rhapsodic, in a conservative harmonic and melodic language--the second movement, added several years later, is more spicy and dynamic. Matt Haimovitz gives an excellent, vigorous rendition of the work.

Finally, perhaps the gem of the collection. Melodien is one of the best of Ligeti's mid-period works, a chamber orchestra work where chromatic melodies form a polyphonic weave, before the composer gradually thins out the harmonic language until at the halfway point the music clears into wide open octaves. The musical process then reverses itself, and the music becomes more complex again as it returns to the start. Atherton's recording is outstanding, and I think slightly superior to the more recent recording on Teldec's Ligeti Project.