Ligeti: continuum for harpsichord

[sirshitsalot007]

whao I'm trippin balls man

[rmahad]

I've seen the score. It's actually quite playable as it fits under the hands easily. You just need alot of stamina so your hands don't seize up. The repeated notes are done by alternating hands. If you've ever done a single-stroke roll on a snare drum you can understand how to develop that kind of repeat rate.

[THX1146]

It would make upsetting elevator music.Not for bars or restaurants either.

[carcatt]

absolutely wonderful.

[MorfGworfmim]

@ 2:30 thought my phone was ringing

[TheEdgarvarese12]

fuck you who cant appreciate this music and make fun of it

[cosmoman360]

dude, i can play this with my ass. Easiest piece ever. lols i jk.

[IsraelSilvaOficial]

Alright, there's nothing more psychedelic than this!

[mahler151]

Who cares what country he's from? His nationality was hardly what defined his genius.

[PsychaMasutra64]

Need a live reccording of someone playing this ... Someone HUMAN if possible .

[SuperStuff01]

I'm having a hard time believing that a human played this.

[taliayu]

ummm actually he was jewish...partially hungarian born in ROMANIA

[voxhunden]

Awesome image, never heard of Agam before.

[Vladdyboy]

@KV467

sounds like Beethoven's fifth.

beer that is.

I must apologize for making that joke but I feel like it was appropriate to describe this song

[Vladdyboy]

I'm Romanian and I can tell you that the name Gyorgi Ligeti is no where near sounding of Romanian origin.. The guy's a Hungarian from what I've heard. He was probably born in uncertain territory but he's definitely of Magyar blood.

[NevinJarek]

mmm, might I ask something and may someone answer me sincerely and wisely?? Is Ligeti part of a school with a conceptual guide? Like serial music, did Ligeti create this with a 'philosophy' in mind? Or does he compose freely with each of his works having their own (and not sharing) some internal logic, like Ives?

[1919viola]

@NevinJarek there's a quote by Ligeti that he "writes music that [he] likes," not what some school says. As a result, he has had an immensely varied output.

[NevinJarek]

@1919viola Im kinda getting to understand that. It has been difficult to me, because modern music is very broad, and very difficult to understand, so when I listen to something I prefer it to be very well grounded, something justified with a lot of theory, so it can help me understand what Im hearing, what the composer wanted to express, etc. Thats why I have avoided him for so long but I think Im starting to place him in my favorites...

[swordmaster373]

Ligeti is a great musical mind, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be terrified of him if I met him in person.

[TheDavid2222]

holy smokes! 

[Parkerkun]

What the fuck am I hearing?

[PromitheasLucifer]

Excuse my innocense people but what is this? How does this ''music'' help our minds to get better, or improves our senses and/or perception? What does it express? Is this evolution? What's next? (I'm not being ironic, I really want to know)

[Tulipso]

@PromitheasLucifer Ligeti's goal in this piece was to create such a torrent of notes that your brain would not be able to perceive the speed or distinguish between the successive notes, as to create a static effect. However, the maximum repetition speed kinetically possible on a harpsichord is a little below that auditive threshold, so the composition is not entirely successful in that respect.

[Renshen1957]

@Tulipso What instrument would you suggest? Pianos have a slower repetition than harpsichords.

Rather boring music in any case

[uollano2001]

i thoiught he was gerogian...

[bravazingara]

wow....hats off to Chojnacka

[grandexandi]

wow how many fingers?!

[ChibiRaikou]

2:33 HELLO I'LL CALL YOU BACK I'M IN A CONCERT RIGHT NOW

[spyroonline175]

@ChibiRaikou That awesome comment deserves more thumbs up

[ctimur]

did you know hungary and romania was absent before the big bang?

[Dysphomia]

I made 2:32 my ringtone.

xD

[ctimur]

@Dysphomia hahahah quite reasonable =D

[kratanuva725]

Sounds like over-gloried white noise.

And don't think I'm closed minded, I am a very adamant supporter in the use of microtonality, I use polytonality, and occasinally use atonality. (I find that much modern music over-uses it.)

And don't get me started on non-standard instrumentation and polystylisim.

[carlotta306]

very good thanks

[vogelmandrie]

Elzbieta is almost the only important harpsichord player of modern music, how come ??

Why is this instrument  sooo underestimated?????

[lejoliemonsieurs]

The rhythm of this piece is crazy.

[EagleOnTheRhine]

Man oh man, you have to have some strong fingers to play this without your whole hand siezing up...

[Mieszkoy]

There is only one Chojnacka, just like there was only one Landowska. Chapeau bas!

[polkusin]

Sound quality is utterly horrible. A pity, since I'd love to hear this version!

[LRICEcomposer]

Amazing player! This is the fastest version I've heard!

[jazzgot101]

yawning in technicolor

[SkellXiller]

This is brutal...I like it :)

[Forrester]

good comment!

[kn3113]

Amazing that all of the textural complexity of atmospheres or lontano can be replicated on a single instrument. 2:33 of this piece is nearly identical to the rising wind passage of atmospheres right before the entrance of the low strings (4:08 in didgig's posting of atmospheres)

[MLAOTNMCC]

Yes, indeed. It also appears in Ten pieces for wind quintet #9 and six bagatelles for wind quintet #2. And in lontano, and many other pieces. Apparently it has to do with an operation Ligeti underwent in which the anasthetic failed. Sort of horrible :/ but it makes wonderful music!

[vogelmandrie]

Elzbieta Chojnacka is the best harpsichord player of all time , she will be 70 years old this autumn !!

[lotus49a]

While I wouldn't entirely agree with your assessment, I saw her play this piece at the South Bank Centre in London a few years ago introduced by Ligeti himself. It made a real impact on me at the time and I enjoyed it tremendously.

[mistarcraw]

lol

[audiobuttmaster]

What a disturbing comment. You must be dead by now.

[homonovus6]

Brava!! Elisabetta, she's female. ;)

[coasterman16]

I'm surprised she had the endurance to keep this up for so long. Bravo, Elisabeth!

[lordtiman]

3:39, that's not bad, there are even 20 seconds left :P

[runninrr]

I've been listening to modern music lately. A lot of it makes for an interesting effect, but I'm not sure I 'get it.' Part of me wants to pretend that I do, but another part of me is afraid it's just the Emperor's new clothes...

[Jopolis07]

its the fact that you dont get it that makes it so important

[joznick1]

why care if you "get it?" you've been drawn to the music. humans are arrogant in their desperate trying to understand everything

[emperorIng360]

I know, man. Damn those arrogant bastards for trying to make sense of the world around them!

[whonotmeyou]

right? no sence makes sence

[ikkerimas]

This always trying to make sense of the world is the modernist view of the world (originates from the beginning of the 20th c.) Ligeti is long time after them (I don't know how he is classified but I would say post-modernist) which means that "there might be no other meaning than the words/music itself" and that "the world might have no meaning at all" (theatre of the absurd).

[TheEdgarvarese12]

@emperorIng360 fuck off

[Renshen1957]

@runninrr Don't be afraid, alot of 20th century music is exactly the Emperor's New Clothes.

[zoltai9]

Very colourful tones; the spectrum of existence.

[faldarazzo]

kokemew - Prick

[kokomew]

wow.. is this really the piece?

i'm writing about this piece... i thought my recording was not working properly.. lol.. so i youtube it.. and they are still the same..

[dayw4lk3r989]

@kokomew well, if you want to write about Ligeti, get used to sound like this :)

[sciprio]

Yes, maybe you are right my dear friend, he is hungarian, because the nowadays romanian territory of transylvania, was hungarian territory when Ligeti was born.

[zapasiewicz]

@sciprio oh I see you corrected your mistake so sorry.

I'm writing this comment because I still can't get through the masterfulness of this piece. :)

[superunknownro]

@sciprio: i'm afraid you are wrong, in 1923 Transylvania was part of Romania. The treaty of Trianon that established the border between Hungary and Romania had been signed in 1920. Regardless of this fact, Ligeti was born in a hungarian-speaking jewish family from Transylvania, if we need to be that specific on his descent.

[IsraelSilvaOficial]

@sciprio Hey man, can you suggest me more harpsichord contemporary compositions? Thank ya.

[SFChristo]

Hello I am confident that Ligeti was Hungarian not Romanian. Also would you please consider giving credit to the harpsichordist who spent many hours of practice to be able to record this piece? (sounds like the original Wergo label recording)

[sciprio]

He was not hungarian, he was born in Târnăveni Romania, he lived in Hungary, an after he moved to Austria and got the austrian citizenship.

The harpsichordist is Elisabeth Chojnacka.

[SFChristo]

Thank you for giving the musician her credit. According to Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (ed. by the great lexicographer,Nicolas Slonimsky), Ligeti was born May 28, 1923 in Dicsoszentmarton, Transylvania. Yet he is listed as "eminent Hungarian-born Austrian composer." He is also listed that way in the New Grove Vol. 10 p. 853 (1980). "Austrian composer of Hungarian birth" "Ligeti was born of Hungarian Jewish parents; shortly after his birth the family moved to Kolozsvar..."

[zapasiewicz]

@sciprio obviously it's not Elisabeth Chojnacka, but Elżbieta Chojnacka from Poland, and Ligeti was obviously Hungarian. That way you can accuse all the people born in Lwów (like my ancestors) of being Ukrainian :))). Just funny.

A great piece and well played, though.

[ortcutt]

@sciprio He was born to Hungarian-speaking Jewish parents, and his native language was Hungarian, although he spoke six languages. I stayed in Kézdivásárhely (Târgu Secuiesc) some years ago, and most people I knew thought of themselves as Hungarians who are Romanian citizens. I would imagine it was the same for Ligeti, but he's the only one who can really answer the question.

[SFChristo]

But I'm not trying to piss you off or create a tempest in a teapot. I live in San Francisco and have never been to Hungary or Romania (although I'd love to see both places)

[sciprio]

The question is that, in 1923, Transylvania was, in that moment under hungarian control, during that time the name of the town of Târnăveni was Dicsoszentmarton, in hungarian language.

[kablamxafi]

The concept of nationality has no basis on where someone was born. Whether or not Ligeti was born in Hungary or not doesn't matter; it's his Hungarian ancestry that matters.

[ikkerimas]

Transylvania became part of Romania in 1920 - but of course most of the people there were Hungarians. In terms of nationality, I don't know how he defined himself, but his name is 100% Hungarian.

[smallbutton1]

@sciprio Romania reunited in 1918 so he was born in Romania, not in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

[Merkourio]

@sciprio

And also his name is clearly Hungarian (:

Ligeti whould translate to something like: "From the grove"

[redpointrana]

@sciprio i think that in 1923 Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Romania, you can check on Wikipedia the Union of Transylvania with Romania, which took place in 1918

[Guitarlessonvideos]

SFChristo - Slonimsky's books are full of errors.. Don't get me wrong he is a great author, but there are many people who have pointed out various errors.