György Ligeti - Musica Ricercata, I-VI

Musica ricercata, pieces (11) for piano (1951-1953) -- (Adaptation for Barrel Organ)

I. Sostenuto -- Misurato -- Prestissimo
II. Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale
III. Allegro con spirito
IV. Tempo de Valse (poco vivace -- "à l'orgue de Barbarie")
V. Rubato. Lamentoso
VI. Allegro molto capriccioso
VII. Cantabile, molto legato
VIII. Vivace. Energico
IX. (Béla Bartók in memoriam) Adagio. Mesto -- Allegro maestoso
X. Vivace. Capriccioso
XI. (Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi) Andante misurato e tranquillo

Pierre Charial, barrel organ

Although known primarily for his sound-mass compositions (such as Lux Aeterna, which was featured in Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey) and the use of so-called micropolyphony, György Ligeti spent his later years obsessed with the piano, eventually embarking on an extended series of etudes for the instrument. These grand achievements were not without precedent, however, as can be seen in his Musica Ricercata, for piano, of 1953. This early work, written before his flight from Hungary, establishes his affinity for the keyboard, and acknowledges the influence of Béla Bartók, whose Mikrokosmos exhibits a similar progressive approach to composition.

Musica Ricercata comprises 11 individual pieces, the first of which includes only two pitch values (and their octave equivalents); each subsequent piece adds another pitch, so that by the last in the set all twelve pitches are brought into play. This systematic adding of pitches to the tonal mix is the binding formal element in the set -- one that forces Ligeti to look to other elements, such as rhythm, register, and dynamics, for the development of musical interest.

Ligeti travels widely through the Musica Ricercata in his explorations of style and technique. The first piece heralds the pitch A with much bravura, building up thundering octaves and dizzying ostinati, before finally landing on a sustained D, as if to create a cadence. The second piece uses three chromatic neighbor tones to create a study of dissonance and drama. The third shifts gears completely, evoking Bartók in its jaunty treatment of a triad containing both the major and minor thirds. The fourth piece is a waltz-like dance, evoking the ghost of Mahler, perhaps, in the combination of thirds and chromatic runs over a static accompaniment. The fifth piece, using six pitches, combines a Beethovenian recitative-like passage with more dissonant, lamentoso themes. The sixth work, using a full seven-note diatonic complement, again evokes the folk music world of Bartók. The next study, one of the most substantial (four minutes in duration), unfolds a beautiful song over a fast ostinato in the left hand that is reminiscent of piano music by Samuel Barber or Alberto Ginastera, though it is doubtful such influences would have been explicit. The eighth piece is an exuberant Eastern European dance in an asymmetrical meter. The ninth is explicitly dedicated to Bartók, though it does not try to evoke his music in any obvious way; it is a poignant, concentrated work. The tenth piece, using 11 pitches, is a humorous, biting score that harmonizes diatonic material with various dissonances; a repeated cluster that is pounded out near the end points forward to Ligeti's later post-tonal, textural music. The final, most substantial work of the set is an intricate contrapuntal study dedicated to Girolamo Frescobaldi, seventeenth century master of the polyphonic ricercare form -- perhaps the inspiration for the work's title. [Allmusic.com]

Art by Barnett Newman

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Music

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