Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre [Gyorgy Ligeti Edition Vol 8]

Gyorgy Ligeti (Composer), Esa-Pekka Salonen (Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus (Orchestra), Derek Lee Ragin (Performer), London Sinfonietta Voices (Performer), Charlotte Hellekant (Performer), Jard Van Nes (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Derek Lee Ragin, London Sinfonietta Voices, Charlotte Hellekant, Jard Van Nes
• Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus
• Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
• Composer: Gyorgy Ligeti
• Audio CD (March 23, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Sony Classical
• ASIN: B00000ICMU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,785 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Car Horn Prelude / Autohupen-Vorspiel Prélude aux klaxons

2. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Dies irae'

3. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Away, you swagpot!'

4. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Shut up!'

5. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Oh ...!' - 'Amanda! Can do no more!'

6. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Ha-ha-ha-ha! Hey! Give me my requisites'

7. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 1: 'Melting snow is thy breast'

8. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Second Car Hor Prelude / Zweites Autohupen-Vorspiel / Deuxième prélude aux klaxons

9. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 2: 'One! Two! Three! Five!'

10. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 2: 'Shapley and attractive figure'

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: Doorbell Prelude

2. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Arse- licker, arse- kisser!'

3. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Posture exercises!'

4. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Tsk...' - 'Psssst!'

5. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Ahh! ... Secret cypher!'

6. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Hurray, hurray! My wife is dead'

7. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: Nekrotzar's Entrance

8. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Woe! Ooh!' - 'For the day of wrath'

9. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'There's no need to fear'

10. Le Grand Macabre, opera: Scene 3.: 'Up!'- 'Drink!' - 'Up!'

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1999

It's apocalypse now in Hungarian composer György Ligeti's brilliantly imaginative opera about a comic-book Armageddon. Ligeti revised and tightened the original 1970s version of this masterpiece, which boils over with Brechtian grotesques. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, always sensitive to the pulse of the most compelling contemporary music, brings off a wacky, threatening, sardonic, and exhilarating account. --Thomas May

Amazon.com essential recording

It seems oddly fitting that 1999--a year marked by Y2K paranoia and doom-and-gloom trainspotters--is the year in which Sony chose to release this brilliantly charged version of György Ligeti's Le Grande Macabre, the Hungarian master's comic tale of apocalypse and "what me worry?" Originally composed between 1975 and 1977, Macabre follows the various bumbling citizens of "Breughelland" during "anytime." Problem is, their time is about to end, thanks to grim reaper Nekrotzar (played with deadpan grotesquerie by bass-baritone Willard White), who, aided by his bumbling servant Piet the Pot, has decided to lay waste to the world. Of course, nothing ever goes quite right. A pair of indistinguishable lovers (including the radiant mezzo of Charlotte Hellekant) sleeps right through the Armageddon, and the Great Macabre is reduced to asking himself, "Have I not just laid to waste the entire goddamned world?" in the hilarious final scene. Esa-Pekka Salonen's live recording zeroes in on the score's sardonic humor as well as its postmodern raidings. Compared to the first Macabre on disc--sung in German and not as compact as the revised, English version that Ligeti prepared for the 1997 Salzburg Festival revival--this one is the keeper, with better sound staging, wildly imaginative orchestrations, lucid program notes, and an enjoyably perky English rendition of the original text. Hearing all this perfect craziness--the townspeople mimicking a skipping record as they sing "Our Great Leader" in the third scene, the car horn prelude that leads off the production, the absurdist arguments of the Black and White Ministers--is a comic delight. Here is one of Ligeti's masterpieces--a must for fans of modern opera--in its full glory. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New version of this masterpiece is a major musical event., April 1, 1999

By 

Karl Henzy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre [Gyorgy Ligeti Edition Vol 8] (Audio CD)

Gyorgy Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, two hours of absolutely inspired musical mayhem, is one of the five or so most important works of the century. As such, a new release of this 1977 work, in a revised version (1997) conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and in English no less (the original was in German) is a major musical event by default. Is it better than the old German version on Wergo, conducted by Elgar Howarth? Not necessarily. My impression, for instance, is that Eirian Davies' Gepopo (on Wergo) is better than Sibylle Ehlert's (on the new Sony disc). (They're both fantastic at one of the most difficult singing pieces in the history of opera.) Other things may be better on the new version. But who wants to nit-pic? I am glad to have them both. If someone wanted to know which to buy first, though, I'd say start with the old Wergo disc while it's still available (I hope for a long time to come, but who knows?), unless the German is such an obstacle that it's better to have the English version on Sony. Either disc, though, is full of great performances of Ligeti's amazing, funny, mysterious, powerful masterpiece.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the few contemporary masterworks in opera, February 6, 2005

By 

drabauer "drb" (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre [Gyorgy Ligeti Edition Vol 8] (Audio CD)

I will not bother defending Le Grande Macabre for those dismayed at how it differs from earlier Ligeti; having studied the works from 1943 on, I hear a continuity that others may miss. Know only that the opera was influenced by the visual arts of Bosch, Brueghel and Saul Steinberg, the operas of Monteverdi and Verdi, the absurdist theater of Alfred Jarry, and the films of Charlie Chaplin. In other words, be forewarned!

Having not seen the recent San Francisco production I can only imagine the wild visuals, but the performers in this spanking new edition are spot on. Ligeti has considerably abridged and tightened the opera (first written in 1974-77), and has greatly refined his original vision (the composer has even gone on record preferring the English libretto to the original German.) The Wergo original is of interest primarily to completists.

Let me just add that history is everywhere present in LGM; this is the closest Ligeti's come to a "collage" work, which seems completely appropriate given the darkly surreal subject matter. He would never produce something quite like this again, but let us hope against hope that he finishes the long running operaplanned on the Alice books. For more about Ligeti, I recommend the Richard Steinitz work and life (although the earlier bios by Griffiths, Toop and Burde are great as well).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great opera of our time, July 25, 2001

By 

Vladimir (Valencia, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre [Gyorgy Ligeti Edition Vol 8] (Audio CD)

Ligeti's opera "Le Grand Macabre" based on the ballade of Michel de Ghelderode is a great musical achievement of our time. This version by Salonen, sung in English, is a reference. Salonen is a young enthusiastic conductor who loves the score (he told once something about composing and opera, after conducting Ligeti's Grand Macabre) and it is an authentic gift hearing Philharmonia Orchestra under his rules. In the casting, this version counts with a shining and lovely Amanda (Laura Claycomb),a funny Mescalina (Jard van Ness) and a really dark (literally) Nekrotzar (Willard White). Only Gepopo (Sybille Ehlert) is not fully convincent. But it is delightful hearing her, in any case, singing "Stern measures".

I am not agree with the stern reviews of some colleagues in this page. This Opera by Ligeti is magical, funny and delicious, as "The magic flute" of Mozart, for example. The music is powerful (the entrance of Nekrotzar, Astradamors' torture...) and filled with beauty (Gepopo's "misteries").

I love this opera and those of Penderecki, and I consider them the best works in their genre of the last 50 years.