Review: Sony's Budget Ligeti Box

OK, you don't get the words in the vocal works (and there's an entire opera in here--Le Grand Macabre), but the performances are all splendid, and with nine discs at budget price you really can't go wrong. Yes, the music is challenging, but Ligeti was a genius and his fascinating creative mind is everywhere in evidence.

[davidbo]

I think I'm going to listen to some Ligeti now. You've given me a really splendid idea for tonight. Short but sweet presentation, very nice. Thank you

[horsedoctorman]

Pierre-Laurent Aimard recorded the final 3 Ligeti etudes on a CD called "African Rhythms" alongside music from Steve Reich and Aka Pygmies

[paulgthomas]

The complete Ligeti edition was shared between Teldec & Sony - this boxset is essentially Sony's part plus Le Grand Macabre under Salonen. The Teldec portion has mostly orchestral works, indlung the Concerti

[jg]

It's a fabulous collection. I have the original releases which give us Ligeti's own liner notes. If you complement it with Teldec's "The Ligeti Project" (the de facto continuation of the Sony) and Aimard's CD "African Rhythms" you'll have his complete works almost always supervised by himself. It's a marvel!

[FCarraro]

I remember vividly when I was a teenager and I used to listen to Ligeti violin concerto while I was waiting to get a haircut. One of my favourite composers, even if I don't listen to it as much.

[abendrotfernweh]

Finally, Dave speaks more about Ligeti. Thank you!...

[annakimborahpa]

1. Dave's message appears to be that anyone who loves this composer's music should immediately order this box set 'Ligeti split.'
2. I recommend listening to his Lux Aeterna when you're in the kitchen cleaning an interminable stack of dishes with Lux Lemon Dishwashing Soap.
3. Since:
(A) Ligeti was born in 1923 in Transylvania, Romania that later became part of Hungary
- and -
(B) he composed the poly-rhythmic Hungarian Rock for harpsichord in 1978,
- then -
(C) was he finally able to provide the long awaited and definitive answer to the question posed by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett in his 1962 chart topping smash hit Monster Mash: "Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?"

[benoit]

There is a Teldec 5 cd box who completes this one. Sony had gave up the project and Teldec had followed. There is the orchestral stuff including Atmosphères of course and the conertos.

[murraylow]

Inspired by Dave, I’m listening to the “mechanical music” disc that’s in here. “Continuum” is actually rather easier to take on the barrel organ than the harpsichord! And the études on the player piano(s) are really important as they create the effect of super-human virtuosity. Not that you’d get this set only for this disc, but all this might be hard to find any other way.
It’s interesting that although Ligeti did some electronica early after escaping Hungary (available in the teldec/Warner box) he thereafter avoided it in favour of more “clunky” and maybe fallible machines. He had a great deal of influence on various forms of popular music, ambient and electronica, which is one reason that, in my experience, Ligeti is still really appealing to younger music lovers. But he avoided computery stuff himself.
If anyone here is a bit iffy about him, but likes Bartok and wondered how that could develop in the future, I’d say Ligeti is the most important answer. If you bear in mind the importance of bartok here, it all becomes much more easy to take. Remember the barrel organ effect at the end of the 5th quarter! And I gather that it’s a joke going around that Ligeti’s first quartet is really Bartok’s 7th :) If you listen you’ll hear why.

[UlfilasNZ]

How about a survey of Messiaen organ cycles? Surely people are lining up for that one?

[daviddorfman]

A german-language reviewer on Amazon gave the following 2-star review, translated into English: "There are some beautiful pieces by Ligeti that have been used in movies. I assumed that the complete work reproduces more of this aesthetic. Far missed. The majority of the pieces could be poinitert but aptly described with intestinal cramps of the Valkyrie and recruiting singing of the maniacs. The best pieces are still the arrangements of Hungarian folk music, in which Ligeti did not completely fart the original melodies." Listening to the vocal music CD in the collection, I have to think Ligeti would have approved of this review. I already have Fredrik Ullen's BIS recording of the complete piano music, but can't pass up all of the other goodies in this box.

[jonmb]

The bagatelles for wind quintet have loads of tunes in them. They're very post-Bartok, with a bit of stravinskian neoclassicism.

[CortJohnson]

“If you want easy - go elsewhere”😊. Thanks for the introduction, Dave.

[Warp]

I’ve got the Ligeti Project box from years ago I’ll have to check this one out.

[johnwright]

Good to see Sony has reissued this Sony set for those who didn’t collect the recordings the first (or second?) around. Now Warner should reissue the second part of the edition/project originally on Teldec.

[robertdandre]

we have all known, the people of our generation, the works of ligeti thanks to the 2001 film odyssey of space by stanley kubrick.... and the desire to know more about this

[lonchaneyfanch]

And if you could choose only one work by... Ligeti ? By the way, do you manage to include contemporary composers (dead or alive) in your serie of "only one work" ? That should be great :-)