Customer Reviews

Ligeti: Requiem Aventures Nouvelles Aventures

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Ligeti's Requiem is one of the few works produced by the XXth century "avant-garde" that can actually be enjoyed by a regular concert audience. Without being a "pop" tuneful work this music is one of the most beatiful I've ever heard and that is due to the amazing palette of atmospheres and moods it displays: fear, anger, spirituality,contemplation,etc. This version by Gielen is finely recorded and is essential to get to know the work, as it is the only available. On the other hand, "Aventures" and "Nouvelle Aventures" are works mostly parodic in their content, fun to listen if you have good humor. I like this version by Cerha, but you can find alternatives with Pierre Boulez and his Ensemble Intercontemporain.

The reason to get this CD is the Requiem. This is probably the most important of Ligeti's works of the 60's. It unites the cloud colors of Atmospheres and Lontano, with the dense choral writing of Lux Aeterna. The work is deeply felt and beautiful. Ligeti had a great influence on subsequent generations of composers, as well as a dicernable influence on the first generation of sythesizer performers such as Tangerine Dream. Compare this to Phaedra and see if you don't agree.

The Aventures are more for the specialized lover of the avant-garde. I enjoy them, but they are not everyone's cup of tea. It is important to remember that they are satire, not to be taken seriously. And much of their impact is dulled on recording, since the stage directions for performing the work are nearly as important as the notes.

Gyorgy Ligeti remains the 'bad boy' of contemporary music composition. More than any other composer he has pushed the borders of music to experiences that seem out of body - and at times, out of atmosphere! For this listener his creations are endlessly intriguing and fascinating and Ligeti never ceases to amaze.

This excellent recording of his 1965 Requiem is a mere half-hour long piece for large orchestra, two mixed choruses, and soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists. It demands much from the performers, so complex and dense is the writing: it also demands much from the audience who must be willing to be involved with the mood of the work in order to receive its many rewards. Ligeti's Requiem is ABOUT the dead, not for the dead: the overall feeling is one of witnessing the spirits of the departed rising from the grave into the nebulous realm of the spirit world before their souls can take flight into eternity. The majority of the work is choral and the sounds Ligeti creates are murmurings and tremolos and sighs that defy description. The orchestra is in conversation with the chorus and the two soloists intone the pleas of the dead. There are clouds of sounds that are haunting while there are also outbursts of emotional content that speak of terror and at the same time mocking humor of the human condition. It is divided into four parts: Introitus, Kyrie, Dies Irae, and Lacrimosa - the last movement literally drifts away from audible presence into somewhere beyond human understanding or hearing. Michael Gielen conducts the massive forces with complete understanding and soloists Barbro Ericson and Liliana Poli are excellent. Having had the pleasure of hearing a recent brilliant performance with the LA Philharmonic, the LA Master Chorale with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting was only somewhat marred by the very apparent audience response of merely tolerating this majestically moving work. But then they came for the following Beethoven 9th which followed....

Also on this recording are two sets of Ligeti's 'Aventures' series composed for 3 voices and 7 instruments and are brisk, lively, hilarious and astutely presented by Friedrich Cerha and Andrzej Markowski. This is definitely the other side of a genius composer's view of the musical universe! Highly recommended for the adventurous spirits. Grady Harp, May 06

This should be played on a cassette machine with flat batteries. Start the tape now, please.

Thanks. Legatti's incorporation of polyrhythms contrives to produce one of the most crystalline and difficult pieces of music ever written. No piece of music ever summed up death better. No human being ever experienced anything so close to death whilst still being alive.