György Ligeti was born
Beginning of the composer’s lifetime.
What's this piece like?
The beginning of the 1950s marks a turning-point in György Ligeti's early career. At that time, Ligeti had become disappointed regarding his rather marginal position in Hungarian musical life, and he might well have felt some dissatisfaction with his own artistic output, as well. He then set himself certain compositional tasks, and imposed restrictions on pitch content, intervals, and rhythms 'as if to build up a "new music" from nothing'. His collection called Musica Ricercata was the first fruit of his experimental project and marked a renewal of Ligeti's musical creative output.
The first piece of the set is centered around one note only, A, with D introduced as the final note. The piece explores rhythmic and timbre dimensions to create variety and intrigue. The coda pounds out several more octaves of A before we finally hear the ending D.
Who's this piece for?
This is a great piece for intermediate level pianists with a solid foundation and strong technique.
Ranking
Equivalent to RCM level 8
Equivalent to ABRSM level 8
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György Ligeti died
End of the composer’s lifetime.
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