Ligeti's Vision

The first time I heard Gyorgy Ligeti was when I first watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I knew the movie was a classic, because I could hear everyone talk about it. What I did not know was that the music too is very famous as well. Picture a 15 year old kid walking into the library asking for Ligeti. Sure I might have been crazy, but I asked for it and of course not finding it as quickly as I hoped. Before internet I was not sure what the library did to get information from another library. They must have had carrier pigeons or something. Ligeti was a very interesting composer because his music fit so well with what Kubrick was trying to do. Later on while working on another project in college I found out that Kubrick just stole the music from Ligeti without permission and used it in his movie. Ligeti got no royalties or for that matter credit for his wonderful work.

While in my community college I found the reason to like music more then the casual listener. This also was the case for my love of Film, Art, Reading and other wonderful things. Meeting certain people and working in a library helped a lot. I explored all types of music that would be overlooked otherwise. My jump into Classical came by accident. I heard on the radio a String Quartet do "Purple Haze," and I loved it. It turned out to be the Kronos Quartet. Going to the book and music store I would go find it and bring it home. I talked to a friend who majored in Classical Composition if there was anything else I should listen to. He gave me all types of stuff. The people he told me about were Ligeti, Glass, Messiaen, Carter, Ives, Takemitsu, Webern, and others. It was at that moment I realized I dived not into a pool, but a small lake. that only got bigger when I thought I reached shore. It was great help when I mentioned Kronos Quartet to one of my English Professors. He too was a fan of what they chose to do on CD's. I mentioned to him I would love to hear other things. He made me a tape of four string quartets. Side one was, Elliott Carter String Quartet #1 and Alfred Schnittke String Quartet #2. Side Two was Alban Berg Quartet and lastly was a Ligeti String Quartet #1. Each were amazing pieces in their own right. It was Ligeti's string quartet that was different from the others. It was different from the others because of it's unique sound of what a string quartet should sound like.



I listened to his and Elliott Carter's string quartet and I was both amazed and scratching my head on what I thought or expected to listen to. Each time I heard it, I was more and more impressed. Then I decided I should explore more of Ligeti's work. Thank god for the music I heard in 2001. I knew that his stuff was the stuff that put's you on the map, like the artist I mentioned above, I heard things that really did not put him in the same group as Beethoven or Mozart. He put himself in a unique map all by himself. Ligeti's music in 2001 was some of the mood altering work I have ever heard.

When Ligeti, created that stuff I was wondering if he was praised for his work that would lead up to what I heard on 2001. The professor who told me about him and the other music beside 2001 mentioned to me that I should listen to all his other stuff. It was hard to find at the time, but he could get a few tapes together of what he had. One CD that was out that I saw in stores gave me an idea what I should listen to. There were two other that he had that were more of what I wanted to hear. He told me that like all the classics Legeti is one that should be mentioned in the same breath.



Ligeti was a person who had a wide of musical pieces and movement. There is a nice Eight Volume Set that Sony Classical put out which I have, but the problem for me was it was hard getting all the CD's together. Supposedly they are now in a big box. The Ligeti Project Box that is shown above is one of the best things out there. It is not as intense as the Sony Classical, but it gives a great overview, plus some new pieces just for this Project. With his death in 2006 the Classical world lost a great composer who reached more with his body of work then any of the other modern people I love. He will be missed and for anyone who needs to try a new Classical composer he is worth looking into. Enjoy!