I’ve
learned more about the music of Ligeti lately by playing
music from his native regions of Transylvania, Romania and
Hungary. Those who know his hopping rhythms, strangely compulsive
lyricism and the sense of disciplined madness which seems
to inhabit the notes of many of these pieces, will find something
similar in spirit in the Horas, Doinas and
other styles from that area. Looking at the scores, some
of his work appears virtually unplayable – certainly to mere
mortals such as myself. Barlines which differ for each hand,
pages which are black with spidery notes – there is an incredible
virtuosity demanded of the player in some of these pieces
which would seem to require superhuman technique. Indeed,
several of Ligeti’s piano works were adapted for piano roll,
the influence of Conlon Nancarrow’s ‘unplayable’ compositions
for that medium having been a great influence on him in his Études
pour piano. The gently spoken Jürgen Hocker has been
a magnificent champion for these versions of the works (Sony’s
Ligeti Edition Vol. 5, Mechanical Music), but neither he
nor the composer ever claim that they are better than those
by a live pianist – those versions are entities in their
own right, and while instantly recognisable, the effect they
produce is indeed entirely different to those on these recordings.
There
have already been two volumes issued in this set: BIS-CD-783
and BIS-CD-983, so those of you who already have these need
to know that the only extra tracks are Études 17 and
18 completing Book III, L’arrache-coeur, and the Four
Early Pieces. It almost goes without saying that Fredrik
Ullén is superbly in control of every aspect of these pieces,
from the sublimely simple to the ridiculously complex. Ullén
has performed concerts in which he has played all of the Études
more or less at one sitting, so there is no doubting his
stamina and ability. These recordings were made in a variety
of locations and the project was started 10 years ago, but
there is no problem with continuity in terms of sound - which
is at every point up to BIS’s extremely high standard - or
technical, pianistic content. Ove Nordwall’s introduction
and Fredrik Ullén’s notes in
the booklet are highly detailed and comprehensive, such that
some readers may wish to forearm themselves with a magnifying
glass. It is very good to have full chapter and verse on
these pieces however, and with plenty of context in terms
of Ligeti’s career, and lots of references and cross-references
to Ligeti’s other works, and influences, pieces and composers
to which some works themselves refer.
This issue, with world premičre recordings of the Four
Early Piano Pieces and L’arrache-Coeur, which
was originally intended as Étude
No.11 (Book II), completes
the sum of one of the greatest compositional legacies for
piano of the 20th century. The earlier works,
which appear on disc 2 of the set, have a beguiling, sometimes
almost naďve quality. This simplicity cannot however hide
an unstoppable sense of direction and purpose, and with
the Due Capricci of 1947 the characteristic Ligeti
fingerprints are already present in thumbnail. Ullén rightly
points out the significance of Musica Ricercata in
terms of Ligeti’s development, and the sense of rigorous
personal research, exploration and uncompromising experiment
is laid startlingly bare – in parts still sounding modern
and adventurous even today. Ligeti’s sense of fun and parody
is however never very far away, and this is quite the variety
show of pianism – if you don’t like one movement, maybe
you’ll like the next one.
The Études are of course central to
Ligeti’s output for the piano. In each of
these works Ligeti experiments with new polyrhythmic configurations,
usually divided between the two hands of the pianist. Ligeti
learned a great deal from the Ars
Nova period (14th century
polyphony) and the Ars Subtilior (the refines style at the end of the 14th century).
The resulting multi-layered techniques, conceived horizontally
rather than vertically, gave Ligeti the flexibility he sought – in
which bar-lines form a secondary function, entirely different
to the four-square rhythmic solutions which came in after
J.S. Bach. Ligeti also investigates the various harmonic
possibilities offered by the piano, pushing these permutations
to the limit without resorting to de-tuning the piano. In Étude No. 12, Entrelacs,
he plays with six tones for each hand, one with five black
keys and one white, and the other with the remaining white
keys.
Within this he varies which white key belongs to the five
black keys, offering fantastic harmonic combinations – all
discovered improvisationally, while working at the keyboard,
a man after my own heart. I was lucky to be present at the
world premičre of Étude No. 15,
White on White, which was written for the Ligeti
Festival at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague in 1996
and performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
This is an attempt to destroy all previous ‘white-note’ scales
and modes, and Ligeti does this by working with intervals
of seconds, first in a kind of gently chasing canon and later, vivacissimo
con brio, but always with ‘dissonant’ intervals
and avoiding open octaves. The piano-four hands works are
played with Ullén taking both parts, done by the player listening to
the first part while playing the second one. The effect of
this might have been a possible loss of spontaneity, but
if there is any I can’t spot it here. The most interesting
effect in the Monument is that of parts for two pianos
played on exactly the same piano, which makes a bigger difference
than you might imagine – it’s like a hall of mirrors, especially
in Selbstportrait mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei).
There
are a few alternatives for some of these works, Lucille Chung
(Dynamic - see review) and Idil Biret (Naxos - see review)
have been reviewed elsewhere on Musicweb-International, but
the principal competition
in the Études has to be Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Sony,
Volume 3 of the Ligeti Edition). Aimard is at least the technical
equal of Ullén, and Sony’s piano
recording is pretty stunning; this issue did win a Gramophone
award in 1997 after all. However, with the edition never
completed and a miscellany of players compiling a gallimaufry
of other works including pieces for organ and harpsichord
on volume 6 the whole thing is a bit of a mess in comparison
with this highly desirable BIS set.
So, what if anything is likely to prevent you from dashing
out and buying this set immediately? Nothing: unless you
have a prejudice against ‘modern’ music. Granted, each unto
his own, but if you want to possess the 20th century
equivalent of Beethoven’s Sonatas then you are simply going
to have to bite the bullet and buy this set. With Ligeti,
at least you don’t have to put up with Beethoven’s gruff
deafness and solemn stamping about. This stunning music is
infused with a sensitivity of ear and lightness of touch
which should lift your heart and bring a carnival of colours
into your mind’s eye. Above all, all of it is instantly recognisable
as Ligeti, and played by Frederik Ullén it comes across unique
and unembroidered – like the bittersweet centre of the best
chocolate you ever tasted.
Dominy
Clements
AmazonUK ArkivMusic
Fredrik Ullén 
