Search - Peter Masseurs, Reinbert de Leeuw, Schonberg Ensemble :: The Ligeti Project I: Melodien / Chamber Concerto / Piano Concerto / Mysteries of the Macabre - Schönberg Ensemble / ASKO Ensemble / Reinbert de Leeuw

Fast becoming a favorite.

Ed Brickell | 07/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is great, crazy stuff -- the piano concerto is, as pianist Aimard writes in his enthusiastic booklet notes, "a masterpiece." Endlessly inventive, with multiple layers of rhythmic and harmonic complexity, yet all presented with crystal clear clarity ... the best of what modern music can be. The real pleasure of this disk is that you never really know what you're going to hear from one moment to the next. Continual surprise is the order of the day, and Ligeti is a master of playful suspense, a puckish magician who enjoys playing with your expectations and preconceived notions.Some would argue this is fairly lightweight when put alongside the formidable likes of Carter or Boulez. I don't think that is the case at all. Ligeti communicates more readily than those two composers, but is no less rewarding upon repeated listens. This is not mere sonic novelty, but an experience that will leave you refreshed and enriched.I'm looking forward to the other four volumes in what should prove to be a very laudable series. Also check out Volumes 3 and 7 of the Ligeti edition on Sony, featuring his piano etudes (the best since Debussy) and some provocative works for wind ensemble."

Playful and Inventive

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 08/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thank God for Teldec. Releasing this music is really important. Ligeti is certainly on of the most important living composers and this series will help make all of his works available in composer authorized performances before we loose him. I love this CD, as I have most of the Teldec and Sony discs. This music is Ligeti at his most inventive and playful. Melodien is another of his one movement pieces for orchestra (actually chamber orchestra) but it marks a shift in style from the cloud pieces of the 60s to pieces of greater melodic weight and density. In this work and in the Chamber Concerto that follows, Ligeti is more motivic, though he treats his motives more often as elements in a sound scape rather than in traditional Beethovenian development. The textures and harmonies are quite beautiful. The inclusion of Harpsichord in the Chamber Concerto is a master stroke. The Piano Concerto is quite simply the best piano concerto of the last 20 years. Unlike his Cello Concerto or the Double Concerto, where the soloist is subsumed in the orchestral texture, here Ligeti embraces the traditional rheatoric of the piano concerto, but twists is around. There are moments reminiciant of Bartok, and moments that have some similarity to minimalist procedures, but the work is never anything less than Ligeti's own, dominated by twisted chormatic lines (but based on a free floating tonality) brilliant textures, and a fascination with ever shifting patterns. The Mysteries of the Macabre is a reworking for trumpet and chamber orchestra of three arias from the opera Le Grande Macabre. The work is full of high humor and quite playful in the manner of Aventures and Novelle Aventures. This is a nice introduction to the opera itself, if you don't think your ready for a two hour Ligeti piece. I think the thing that strikes me most about Ligeti's music is it varied expressive quality. Unlike so many of the Darmstadt group, who seemed to be interested in removing expressiveness from their work (mostly unsuccessfully I might add) Ligeti embraces the emotional gesture, and a wide gamut of it as well. You sense the shear delight in sound and material. Moments of the works are quite serious, but other movements are infused with a light-hearted humor that you would not usually associate with an avant-garde composer. As a result, I think Ligeti speaks to people more readily than Boulez or Stockhausen, much as I like their work as well. Ligeti is a humanist, like Nono, but one who isn't afraid of humor. Performances are spectacular. I have the Boulez recording of the piano concerto and this compares well with the Boulez. I like them both. All of the others must be considered definitive. Take a chance on this disc. If your ears are open, you'll be glad you did."

Fascinating Ligeti

peter-from-la | Los Angeles and Chicago | 03/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The wild and exotic Piano Concerto is performed here by one of Ligeti's favorite pianists, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, a marvel of pianistic talent. (Ligeti has written many of his Piano Etudes with Aimard's talented fingers in mind.) Aimard had previously recorded it under Pierre Boulez on DG, but his performance here is nimbler, and the accompaniment better integrated with the piano.The Chamber Concerto is one of Ligeti's most popular pieces: it has been recorded several times. The pizzicato-heavy third movement in particular is one of his standout creations, a musical mechanism with both soul and menace; the poetic and heart stopping perpetuum mobile that closes the piece is breathtaking, a brief glimpse into another world. Melodien was recorded only once before this. It revisits territory covered by the Chamber Concerto, but uses a larger ensemble of musicians. It's a Catherine Wheel of melodies, as if dreamt by a gifted, and unusually musical, watchmaker. My favorite recordings on CD of both Melodien and the Chamber Concerto remain those led by David Atherton, conducting the London Sinfonietta (recorded in the mid-1970s, shortly after the pieces were written). Most recently that CD was available at mid-price on London/Decca, but it is unfortunately out of print. If you come across it in a used record bin consider snapping it up. In the meantime, you have this wonderful program to enjoy for repeated listenings: It is utterly fascinating, web-like music, here comic, there poignant, and always chockfull of surprise.Ligeti has written more accessible works (String Quartet #1, Horn Trio, Piano Etudes Book 1, Six Bagatelles), but these are delightful pieces that should not be overlooked by people interested in exploring the music of this 20th century master. This is one of the best Ligeti records around."