György Ligeti - Violin Concerto (Full Score)

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1989-1993)
Composed by: György Sándor Ligeti (1923-2006)
Performed by: Christian Tetzlaff (Violin) with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln (directed by François Xavier Roth)

I. Praeludium: Vivacissimo luminoso – attacca: [0:00]
II. Aria, Hoquetus, Choral: Andante con moto – attacca [4:03]
III. Intermezzo: Presto fluido [11:38]
IV. Passacaglia: Lento intenso [13:44]
V. Appassionato: Agitato molto [20:50]

*The ocarinas in this recording are an octave too high

[lamalamalex]

So we write garbage now? Cacophony! That first part! It’s not music!

[adventurewithdanny]

"Hey I've got a sight-reading gig for you it'll be easy!"

The Gig:

[robkeeleycomposer]

Utterly brilliant
A real masterpiece

[mokyoworks]

Music is a kind of language and if you are not familiar with it, it is difficult to comprehend and/or appreciate. Most have no trouble accepting this type of music when it is presented with visuals, e.g. as in a film score. It is not necessary to study the theory behind it, but it helps when the listener has traveled to these worlds before and gotten used to the language. Listening to it for the first time cold, with no acclimatization, is not likely to be a rich experience.

[joshuagearing]

1:43 biggest drop in the club since Igor Stravinsky

[trumpeterchris]

Masterpiece. Beyond understanding how he thought of any of this and managed to get those thoughts onto paper. Stunning! And great performance, wow!

[sneddypie]

the fact that he chose to write the last movement in 3/4 bruh

[enriqueernesto]

Diese Musik schickt mich auf eine Reise in visionäre Gefilde auf unbekannten Pfaden

[slateflash]

24:44 Does anybody know of a recording where the full, written in, uncut cadenza is played? Every recording/performance of this either cuts the written cadenza or substitutes it with some other person's cadenza(which to me always sounds very incongruent). I'd very much like to hear the original that Ligeti himself wrote

[belmon]

I just don't see any moment in my day that I would like to listen to it more than 5 seconds. But of course, everyone is different, and free to do so.

[AlecSievern]

I hear some John Adams in that first movement

[quinn]

At 23:03 I suddenly found the whole thing more tolerable

[mrboese]

I am genuinely curious: what is epic about it, I mean what do you like about it? I really fail to see(hear) the point, and it sure is my fault. Is there a secret trick to enjoy music? Do I need to study music theory and history to get it?

[TheRealLoudannIsHere]

What are those numbers at 1:47?
3/16 2+ 3/16 2, etc.

[andresilva_bjj]

hahahah what a crap, at 12:50 almost broke my headset...

[Hastenforthedawm]

Haven't heard it in a while but the 2nd moment reminds me of a part of the Hamburg Concerto, are they related works?

[lisawagner]

Typical 20th century music. Its built on effect. Violin l and Violin ll strings have technical parts that go unheard in the work. Some physically ridiculous to play. Makes them unpleasurable to perform. This piece contains a bit of everything. Great excerpts for movie music 🎵🎶

[slateflash]

13:55 that's very low for an E-flat clarinet

[sneddypie]

i have a score of this, it's so satisfying to just look at,

[johnpcomposer]

There is always something interesting in his music...not as much to grab onto harmonically for my tastes. A lot of noodling that has no direction. Mercifully the 1st movement is short. 2nd movement has a melody. And has more interesting bits. Love 6:31 that somebody else gnashed their teeth at. It's a mixed bag for me. You would have to listen quite a bit to figure out if the whole things hangs together...with so much music and so little time you just have to choose according to your tastes.

Some of what goes on in his music (obviously Cage, Varese, experimental Penderecki and others could be named mainly after 1950), even some of Ginastera's ask the question, does sound equal music? So much new technique, a lot of it percussion heavy and being about timbre more than pitch, that it feels often like a quest for novel sounds. Somebody mentioned that we accept this in movie scores where there is a visual...the music works on that level because its chief effect is atmospheric...That is what color is about...timbre...but after that striking impact does it hold up or invite repeated listening. Is it just mood music? Recently, rewatched Twin Peaks the Return and in several episodes Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima was used. It's very effective as the bomb is referenced visually...but I certainly don't find anything in it particularly memorable...it can't really stay in your head, because the clusters and sounds are so dense and chaotic there isn't anything you could possibly hum. In the end it is just sound. The thing about traditional harmony is that this gravity it creates between different tonalities makes sonic structures possible. In more arbitrary systems of composing, structure functions as changes in texture and timbre...We'll do this texture for a while and then when it thins out that means we've transitioned to a new phase...it's kind of blocky and not particularly fluid...and motivic musical metomorphasis in the conditions of such dense and congested sounds is more an intellectual exercise and can be so obscure you could only really get it if you picked apart a score...almost anything can be said to be a variant of a two or three note motif..and really who has time except pro conductors and musicians to discover the complex "genius" of such works that don't make much of an emotional or aural impact. I suppose this music was part of the point...a response to or against musical expectations, cliches and especially happy endings. I like variety. There have been plenty of good composer who have not gotten the attention they deserve because they didn't embrace serialism, minimalism or microtonality, whatever is considered cutting edge. Remember that a lot of these styles and techniques have been with us for 80 to 100 years now. They may also becoming cliches...So much musical ground has been covered the most interesting possibilities arise when these forms of experiment are then recombined with tonality.