The Dynamics of Disorder

Author(s): Richard Steinitz

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 137, No. 1839 (May, 1996), pp. 7-14
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1003934
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Dynamicsofdisorder

RICHARDSTEINITZexplores
book1
Ligeti's
piano&tudes,

and purposeful,
volcanicand expansive,testament RichardSteinitzis
ofMusic
to an astonishingly
re- a Professor
wide-ranging
imagination,
at theUniversity
of
almost
feats
of
mental
and
quiring
superhuman
For pianistsable to encompass Huddersfield.
physicaldexterity.
In additiontobeing
theirtechnicaldemands,and conveytheinnersub- Artistic
Director
N AN EARLIERarticle(MT,March1996) I atrichesof themusicas ifsuch oftheannual
tletyand expressive
retemptedto explaintherelevanceofcurrent
problemsscarcelyexisted,the completedetudes Huddersfield
searchin thephysical
sciencestotherecentmuconstitute
someofthemostrewarding
and impres- Festivalof
sic ofLigetiandtoallythecomposer
witha new
Contemporary
siverecitalrepertoire
ofourtime.
betweenhumanist
theetudesseemto havebeenconceived Music,he is
spiritofrapprochement
emerging
Initially,
a
currently
writing
and scientific
cultures.The studyofdynamical
as creative
alternative
solutionsas itwere, book
syspartners,
on Ligetifor
temshas helpedto restore
a poeticand aesthetic
dito technicalconcernswhichLigetiwas simultane- Faber& Faber.
mensionto our perception
of the sciences.But is
in thePianoConcertoand had earouslyexploring
chaos theorya passingfad,or shouldwe heed Sir
lieraddressed
in theTrioforviolin,hornandpiano.
Karl Popper,who, in the lecture,'Of clocks and
at first
Although,
glance,his occasionaladoptionof 1. FromLigeti's
notefor
clouds',fromwhichLigetiborrowedthetitleofhis
apparently
simple,eventonalmateriallookslikea programme
the
ofthe
premiere
1972/73composition,
warnsus to be waryof'fashreversion
tothetradition
ofBart6k
andDebussy,
this first
versionofthe
ions in science'and ofscientists
who 'climbon the
is no weakening
ofhis art.Harmonic,
melodicand ViolinConcertoin
bandwagonalmostas readilyas do somepainters
blocks
seem
and September
familiar,
1990.
rhythmic
building
may
andmusicians'?2
As ithappens,thenewmathemati- thereareprecedents,
too,fortheoverallstructures.
cal explanationsof complexphenomenaseem to
Yetthecomposer's
simultaneous
ofdif- 2. KarlPopper:
working-out
knowledge:
havebecomefundamental
to manybranchesofsciferent
mechanisms
carries
innocent
and
un- Objective
quickly
an evolutionary
ence. And,whilstLigeti'sinterest
in themmaybe
material
into
hazardous
His
suspecting
labyrinths.
(rev.ed.,
approach
thisis certainly
nota matterof 'bandhis technical
hisplu- London,
fashionable,
pursuitofextremes,
ingenuity,
1979).
the
weak'.
There
could
be
ofmethodandmusicalvision,maketheetudes
wagonsattracting
scarcely
rality
a composerofbolderindependence
and originality. constantly
freshandsurprising.
The resultsaredaz- 3. 'Whiteon white',
it indicatesLigeti'salertnessto a genuinely zling,andutterly
oftheircomposer. premiered
characteristic
Rather,
byPierreinteraction
betweencreativity
and
As in Ligeti's
earliermusic,theetudesevokea va- LaurentAimardat
contemporary
theKninklijk
contextual
experience.
rietyofextra-musical
analogies,notleast,ofcourse, Conservatorium
in
In focusing
discussion
on
the
musithose
his
titles.
These
make
a
colourmyprevious
suggested
by
TheHagueon
cal 'spirals'createdbyLigetiin threeofthelaterpiful list: 'Disorder','Open strings','Blockedkeys', 26
January1996.
ano etudes,I suggested
variousanalogiesbetween
his
'Autumnin Warsaw','Galamb
'Fanfares',
'Rainbow',
musicalthinking
andcontemporary
ideasinphysics,
nameforan imaginary
borong'(an artificial
gamelan 4. (Englished.,
his
1991).
between
deformation
of
musical
ma'The
music),'Metal','Vertigo', apprentice
particularly
magician', Cambridge
thepresenceofhiddenvariables,
and
'In suspense','Interlacing',
'Thedevil'sstaircase',
'Interial,through
whatscientists
call 'sensitivity
to initialconditions'. finite
column'and,withthenew 15thetude,'White
It'stimetoexaminetheseandotherissuesin thefirst
on white'.The titles,
however,
suggestmetaphorical
book ofetudes.I proposeto concentrate
on fourof
ideasrather
thantechnical
andgiveno incharacter,
themin thisarticle- butfirst,
somethoughts
about
dicationof two othersignificant
stimuli.One was
Ligeti's
pianostudiesas a whole.
Ligeti'sfirstcontactin 1980 withthemusicof the
six etudeswerepublishedin 1986,
Whenthefirst
American
ConlonNancarrow,
whoseown
composer,
theirsubheadingof premiere
livreclearlyindicated
intricate
studiescomposed
extremely
polyrhythmic
thatthe composerplannedmoreto follow.But I
forplayerpiano (thereby
thelimitacircumventing
doubt if Ligeti at that time foresawthe encytionsof humanperformance)
becameforLigetia
or moreetudeshe
Anotherwas the music of the
clopaedicbreadthof thetwenty
majorinspiration.
nowseemsintenton producing.
The first
twobooks
CentralAfrican
Republic,also richin polyrhythmic
of14 studies(lastingin performance
someforty-five features,
whichLigetidiscoveredin 1982 through
amounttoan extraordinary
series
made by the ethnomusicologist,
Simha
minutes)together
recordings
of intricatetechnicaland compositional
achieveArom.In a foreword
contributed
to Arom'sexhausThisconcept
ofmany-layered
is influpolyphony
encedbymypreoccupation
withgeometry,
especialofdynamical
andthescience
lyfractal
sysgeometry
temsanddeterministic
chaos.1

ments.
with the appearance of a 15th etude3,
Now,
livre.What more,
Ligetihas embarkedon a troisitme
one wonders, can he possibly invent?!We already
have music of Lisztian dimensions,at once rigorous

tive treatiseon Africanpolyphonyand polyrhythm,4

Ligetimarvelsat theway thesimple individualparts
of sub-Saharanmusic acquire complex rhythmicrelationshipswithin an ensemble,noting the 'strong
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5. Ligetiin
with
conversation
Heinz-Otto
Peitgenand
RichardSteinitz,
Huddersfield
Festival
(November
1993).

innertensionbetweenthe relentlessnessof the conphrases (initiallyof four,fourand six bars long) iterated a total of 14 times,but with graduallycomstant,never-changing
pulse coupled with the absolute symmetry
of the formalarchitecture
on the one
pressed metreand with each successive statement
hand and the asymmetricalinternaldivision of the
mode.
transposedup one step of the hyperphrygian
The firstcycle startson b', the second on c' (last
patternson the other.What we witnessin thismusic' he writes,'is a wonderfulcombinationof order note,second systemin ex.1), the 14thon b'" two ocand disorderwhich in turnmergestogetherproductaves higher,afterwhich the music stops. The lefthand melody has a similarcharacterbut with four
ing a sense of orderon the highestlevel.'
Order and disorder?Is this anotherinstance of
phrases per cycle instead of three (initiallyof four,
chaos theory?Actually,Ligeti'sinterestin volatile
four,six and fourbars). This cycle,too, is repeated,
musical situationsstems froma much older preochere transposedeach timebasicallythroughthe intervalofa fourth(comparethelast threebars ofex.1
cupationwith polyrhythmic
polyphonyand was alreadya featureof the overlappinggridscharacteris- with the opening), although successive transpositic of his music in the 1960s. But, whereas the mitions,in thiscase, are necessarilymutatedby themicropolyphonyat the heartof works like Apparitions nor third gaps in the pentatonic scale. Although
involved an 'enmeshingof individualparts' to prorightand lefthands each have independentmetrical
duce one composite sonic mass, the music of the
cycles,as logical processestheylook orderlyand de1980s explores a hierarchyof self-containedstruc- terministic.
tures operatingmore independentlyand 'heard siIn fact,however,otherdeconstructiveforcesare
at work. For the firstthree bars, the two hands
multaneouslyon several levels'. That he now views
this interactionfromthe vantage-pointof current sound rhythmicallytogether,notated for convemathematicalthinkingis indicated by his naming nience in eightquavers to the bar,but groupedand
the firststudyaftera crucial issue in the science of
accented in the hemiola patternsof 3+5, 3+5, 5+3.
Such agreementis short-lived.From bar four,by
dynamicalsystems,the concept of 'disorder'.
deletingone quaver fromthe righthand to make a
7/8 bar, and similarly thereafterreducing every
sitions are deliberatelybased on ideas from fourthbar to 7/8,the top line begins to move procontemporarymathematics,the firstpiano
gressivelyahead of the lower, as Ligeti's barring
- an
shows. Also, the truncated7/8bar,by occurringev6tude,'Desordre','whichis self-similar
iteratedstructurebased consciously on the Koch
ery fourthbar, changes position in the repeating
snowflake'- and the fourthmovementof the Piano
phrase structure,so modifyingthehemiola rhythms
Concerto- 'a fractalpiece'.5Nevertheless,'Desordre' in different
places. Of course,rightand lefthand cyestablishes procedures common to many of the
cles move out of step more drasticallysince, as we
have seen, the left-handmelody contains an extra
etudes,namelythe simultaneousunfoldingof independentbut relatedprocessesin each of thepianist's phrase makingits cycle fourbars longer.The initial
two hands. At firstglance their musical material cycles in the two hands add up to 109 (31, 31 and
looks alike. However,it is theirdissimilarity
whichis
47) quavers in the right,but to 144 (32, 32, 48 and
crucial. The allocation to each hand of different
but
32) quavers in the left. So, in almostno timeat all,
scales givesto thesepieces what one
the metricalpatternsofboth hands move farapart.
complementary
mightcall theirown 'combinatorialtonality'(i.e. the
Anyremainingstabilityis upset by yetanotherat
illusion of a thirdor resultanttonalitycreatedfrom firstapparentlysmall discrepancywhose effectis to
the combinationof the othertwo); whilstthesimulturn orderlyif frenziedhemiolas into a headlong
taneousunfoldingofsimilarbut marginallydifferent stampedeof incessantaccents.By a furtherdeletion
metricalpatternsresults in increasinglydivergent of quaver beats,and consequentcompressionof bar
polymetriccounterpoints.When, into these already lengthsand phrase durations,the rhythmiccycles
unstable textures,Ligetiplants othervariables,it is
are repeatedlysqueezed. My diagrammaticrepresenas ifhe had injectedhis metricalprocesseswithtoxtationin ex.2 shows how this operationaffectsthe
ins, calculated to deform them insidiously from right-handphrase structureof the whole studyand
withinbut at different
rates.
how, by the thirdphrase of the tenthcycle, every
note has been reduced to its minimumpossible duThroughout'D~sordre'the righthand plays only
ration(i.e quavers) and theprevailinghemiola char(heptatonic)whitenotes,the lefthand (pentatonic)
black (see
The studyproceedsas a continuum actercompletelyeliminated.
ex.1).
of quavers grouped asymmetrically,
The restorationof the 3+5 Bulgarianrhythmof
mostlyin patternsofthreeand five.The main notes ofeach group
the openingoccurs close to the golden section,after
are accented,doubled at theoctaveand prolongedin
which the originalbar lengthof eightquaversis staorderto projectmorespacious melodic lines in both
bilisedfor18 barsin bothhands beforetheybeginto
hands,a techniquewhose ancestrystretchesback to
divergeagain. Now it is the righthand which reSchumann and Chopin. Ligeti'smelodies, however, mains constant,and the leftwhich pulls away,this
are not legatobut detachedand jagged.
timeby the additionof quaver beats extendingevery
The melodies in each hand are of different thirdbar to nine quavers.The way this9/8bar shifts
lengths. The right-handmelody consists of three withinthe left-handcycle,and its runawayabduc-

IGETI
has
said
that
of
two
his
only
compo-

THE MUSICAL,

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/ MAY 1996

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Ex. 1: 'D6sordre',beginning

T UE

ex''aPIf>erreSoui,,l,
ezal,

ES O,RPR"

1" .

vvo-~cem~~
,*

r,?:o-

E-L' P
EH

I-rr

I fir I rr
II
IF-

F
I-

/-

IM

?A-

r I rt

W
''

rI a

11111
r'

"t '

--

-16-f-l-

Jr.

pe

b4.
I

, . .. . . . . . .

.,,
.

>

>

.. ..

; ....

>
.

..

Ex.2: 'Desordre',diagrammaticrepresentation
uesorare: Inrase structureor ne rigntnan

Stetsg

Numberofquaver

barIioral
beat_..per

Hu"VV
beats perphrase

16

517
17

c""MW

"

c - - - -----I

..I

I:

--a

g10

14

4
4_14__
4_EI

d'.........,

8
I9

8iEE18

i1

II

32

I8

______I

e OI

/32

i
8

T'

18

o18

8 18,8
m

1eil
rpotos

29

8,3
8
8

B]

B
]

hr,1

p
18
,pdks

32

18

,=
i32

rm

H8

18

18

8
I8

12

832

18

""

8
1eim,

"

THE MUSICAL

=ln

18~,

TIMES / MAY 1996

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6. PerhapsLigeti
learntthepiano
usingDohnAnyi's
Essential
finger
exercises
for
a sure
obtaining
in
pianotechnique,
thefirst
ofwhich,
threedigitshold
downthesamekeys
(C, D andE)
duringan exercise
to strengthen
thefourth
andfifth
fingers.

10

Ex.3a:Kochcurve

gle and iteratingthis process produces the Koch

flake(see ex.3b). Aside fromits relationto this elegant structure,'Disordre' also demonstrateshow
tinydiscrepanciesquicklybreedconfusion.Albeitin
microcosmand in a finitecontext,Ligetiillustratesa
fundamentalidea ofchaos - thatsmall differences
in
initialconditionsrapidlylead to dramaticoutcomes.
This is the characteristic
of deterministic
chaos first
recognisedby Henri Poincarein 1903, rediscovered
in 1961 by Edward Lorenz whilststudyingcomputer models of 'unpredictable'weatherpatterns,and
which have obsessed certain mathematiciansand
scientistsduringthe 1970s and '80s.

comingmore dense until the end, where everything

fallsaway.
For the first17 bars, all silent 'gaps' in the continuumare of single quavers. Graduallymore notes
are blocked, and the gaps come in pairs, then
threes,until towardsthe end are long chains of inaudible ostinatos,sensed only by the ghostlypatter
of oscillatingfingerstappingthe ivory.The texture
becomes increasingly threadbare, like a carpet
worn throughto its web, and one is reminded of
the way in which the backgroundfabricis exposed
to view in the skeletal, see-through music of
Lachenmann.

IKE 'DESORDRE','Touches
the
bloquees',
thirdetude,is builton a quavercontinuum;
someofthekeys
exceptthat,in thisstudy,
touched don't sound, being alreadyde. bytheotherhand.6Ligetiherereturns
toan
pressed
earlierexperiment,
thesecondmovement
ofMonu- Bewegung(1976), whose
ment- Selbstportrait
novel techniquesclearlydeservedfurther
explorationand whosenotational
systemis also adopted
in thestudy.Althoughphysically
thepianistplays
incessantquavers,whatwe hearis a perforated
music like a moth-eaten
cloth.The audibleeffect
recalls theasymmetrical
of ConlonNancomplexity
carrowand thescoreitselfis likea pianolarollpepperedwith tinyholes - holes whichincreasein
numberas themusicproceeds.Irregular
bar-lengths
add to thisimpression.
Althoughthestudyhas no
writtentime-signature,
bar lines coincide with
and therefore
phrasepatterns
(unusuallyin Ligeti)
have someaccentualsignificance.
At first,
7/8and
8/8barsalternate
to coincidewiththedescending
and ascendingphrases,but soon themusicgrows
moreelasticso that,overall,thestudycontainsbars
tion of extraquavers duringthe finalsix bars of the
ofalmosteverylengthbetweentwoand twenty-two
studyis typicallycapricious.What remainsconstant quavers!Near the middle,thereis an impetuous
thatthewholestudyshould
throughoutthe studyis the ascendingscalic charac- episodewhichsuggests
ter of the quaver accompaniment,whose vigorous notbe takentooseriously
andthatthepoorpianist's
to maintainregularquaversonly
counterpointprovidesmuch of the music's tremen- apparent
inability
dous ebullience.
efforts
at
compoundshis seeminglyunsuccessful
celebratesthe excitementof
ofthehi'Disordre',therefore,
playingin octaves- forsuchis theeffect
Pocomenoprestoepisode(withits
livingdangerously;its sense of recklessacceleration lariouslyfrantic
is like theheadyexhilarationofridinga roller-coast- composed'smudged'octaves)on page 14 of the
er. On thesurfacethemusic is wonderfully
score.
homogeWhat of the dynamicalforcesat workin this
neous, but underneathare hazardous currentsas
therearefour:firstly,
harmonic
exLigetipursues structurallogic to the point whereit
piece?Basically,
becomes increasinglyanarchic,whereorderlyphras- pansionin whichsuccessive
tonalaggregates
aredees become frenziedand panic-stricken,
fined,onlyto be veiledagain through'blocking';
racing each
othertowardschaos and destruction.
a gradualemergence
ofbrieflegatophrassecondly,
The resizing of the same shape (in this case,
of the'holes'as morekeys
es; thirdly,
enlargement
areblocked;and,fourthly,
thedevelopment
ofa fragphrase structure)throughcontinuousiterationis a
fractalcharacteristic.Repeating an operation over
of
isolated
mentary
counterpoint
quavers,dropped
and overagain,on eversmallerscales culminatesalintotheholesleftbytheotherhand.Thesestaccato
mostinescapablyin a self-similar
noteslaterassumea different
function
as theyeither
structure,a classic
reinforce
or counteract
the impression
of accents
examplebeing the 'Koch curve'proposedin 1904 by
the Swedish mathematician,Helge von Koch (see
the
number
of
producedby increasing
legatophrasex.3a), in which smallerand smallerequilateraltri- es. And, whereastheirchoice of pitchesat first
soon theyacangles are erectedover the middle thirdof shorter echoeskeypitchesin thecontinuum,
and shorterstraightlines. Startingout with a trian- quiretheirownlinearindependence,
thetexture
be-

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is a splenHE FOURTH&tude,'Fanfares',

piecethatshouldbe in the
didlyengaging
of
pianist.Its
repertoire everyadventurous
oropeningbarsstrikeone as disarmingly
dinary;theycould easilybe mistakenforone of
Overall,
Bartok'sSix dancesin Bulgarianrhythm.
demonstration
thisstudyis an impressive
however,
and originality.
betweenplagiarism
ofthedifference
CouldanyoneexceptLigetihaveevolved,fromthis
anddazzling?
musicso ingenious
routine
beginning,
thatthecasuallisinvention
Suchis hisirrepressible
ifhe failedtonoticethatthe
tenercouldbe forgiven
oswholestudyis composedaroundan unchanging
tinatorepeatedbarafterbar,withonlyoctavetransno less than208 times.
positions,
materiFor theveryreasonthathe uses familiar
resourcefulness
thecomposer's
als and procedures,
withexpressive
in marrying
intellectual
virtuosity
melodiesare
Yet
the
clearer.
couldn't
be
elegance
neatthephrasestructures
euphonious,
surprisingly
theharmonies
audaciouslyconsoly proportioned,
nant.Surelywe havebeforeus a postmodern
Ligeti?
Wherenow therevolutionary
daringofApparitions,
theiconoclast
conceitofAventures,
theextravagant
for
namedPoeme
whosemischievously
symphonique
a hundred metronomesso discomfortedthe
at theopeningof theirCity
ofHilversum
burghers
in the
Hall?Is thistheoncebad wolfnowcavorting
fleecytriadsofdiatonicism?
Suchaccusationscan be countered
by observing
thisstudy,
that,throughout
Ligetipursuesa characeccentricobsession.'Fanfares'explores
teristically
onwardrevision,driving
everyaspectofa singular
where
we
to
the
experiencesomepoint
lentlessly
not thecomis
it
new
and
certainly
unique;
thing
Nor is euthefamiliar.
fortable
pathof reinstating
as itis forothposition,
phonyforLigetian aesthetic
ofa particuers,butrathertheincidental
byproduct
not
to one setofpremises,
larpurpose,appropriate
to another.In anycase,Ligetimanagesto use conthe
andyetremainradicalthrough
sonantharmony
which
he
with
sheerspeed and rhythmic
intricacy
triadsbeforeus.
hurtlesunrelated
'Fanfares'
insistent
Withitsbreathlessly
ostinato,
motoperpetuo.Aboveor below
is thearchetypical
its 208 ostinato repetitionsgallops a bright,
sonorous motif,a trumpet-likefanfaremostly of
dyadsand triadsbut occasionallyunlaced in dancing
At each appearance,thismotifis melodfigurations.
and
varied,generallyalternating
rhythmically
ically
between rightand lefthand. Habitually,it contains
evokes folk,
fourmelodic phrases whose symmetry
even Vienneseclassical antecedents.The ostinatoitselfcontainstwo identicalascendingtetrachordsan
augmented fourth apart, whose tritonal axis is
matched throughoutthe rest of the textureby a
Bartokianbalance ofdiatonicand chromaticingredients,here exceptionallyfavouringthe diatonic and
consonant.All thefirst45 chordsare consonant(see
ex.4). Indeed, virtuallythe whole piece is built on
concords, interspersedwith a sprinklingof dimin-

Ex.3b:Kochsnowflake

thenorm
chords.Moreover,
ishedtriadsandseventh
themotifwhenit is
is formajortriadsto articulate
in therighthand,minortriadswhenitis in theleft.
bitonaltheenddoesa moredissonant
Onlytowards
ityprevail.
statement
ofthemainmelodic
The first
complete
motifis in therighthandandconsistsoffourphrases, eachoffourchords,all ofthemmajor.Theyare,
in fact,all themajortriadsin thevariousinversions
on thefirst,
fourth
whichit is possibleto construct
i.e. in stepwithits
and sixthnotesoftheostinato,
3+2+3 hemiolacharacter
(see ex.4). In thisintriguand invention,
betweenorderliness
ing interplay
Successive
somethingsare surprisingly
systematic.
notonlychangehands,butexchangemajor
variants
andminormodes:
of9 different
RHbars2-8 16chords
consisting
inversions
triads
& their
major
of13
LHbars10-17 18chords
consisting
inversions
& their
different
minor
triads
ofmajor
RHbars18-26 20 chords
consisting
chords
triads
& inversions,
plusseventh
ofminor
LHbars28-36 23 chords
consisting
chords
& inversions,
triads
plusdiminished
ofmajor
RHbars37-45 23 chords
consisting
chords
triads
& inversions,
plusseventh
emphasison consonance
Despitethisexceptional
of
andchordalcategories,
rapidjuxtaposition
Ligeti's
triadsfromunrelatedkeyssoundsdelightfully
piquant.Indeed the overalltonalityof the studyis
thansuch a systematic
much moresophisticated
to
techniquemightimply.Earlier,withreference
a
'combinatorial'
I
that
tonality
'Desordre',suggested
oftwodifresultsfromthevertical
superimposition
ferentmodes. Here, in 'Fanfares',combinatorial
sefromthespeedofthehorizontal
emerges
tonality
comindividual
diatonic
which
compresses
quence,
To this
ponentsas ifwe werehearingthemtogether.
contriwe shouldadd thetritonal
pantonalmixture,
rebutionof theostinato(withits twotetrachords
latedby an augmentedfourth),and the straining
lines.The whirlof these
apartof thecontrapuntal
around the rotating
many harmonicingredients
as
forces,
spindleoftheostinatosetsup centrifugal
are spunoutwardsaboveand belowthe
harmonies
as hapoffto theextremities,
at timesflying
centre,
penson page21 ofthescore.
An approximatecount revealsthatthereare a total of around six-hundredchords in 'Fanfares'.Evidently,since the studylasts littleabove threeminutes,we hear on averagenearlytwo-hundredchords
per minute!Individually,themajorityare consonant

THE MUSICAL

TIMES / MAY 1996

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11

Ex.4: 'Fanfares',beginning

s+I
05tr
n,p

cr_

mno...,

Lt

PtTukftJ-n

r-

]1k~~tee

--e

A-T.el-I
- ._

3+

........

.. L.J

..

W
IIIh
.ka
rel

mLt,,WA

'

f."

I.7n--rir

l
ai

'r

tfl1-

gi

"

U"

a elnu

Tsic,,,

a IIII At

T,

1 I !'C!..
I

W -.A--

-__ rl

TP,

H-_-,'I

i-~~an
-,.___.-tat..

L--

!I

"

_.

__

-.

- A
mgMS_
--"

11.,1
.

.,/

"--"#.A*

..

~I
?

..

IOU
.
/1

"

--

..,,.4..-.w-

-_T1,,

. ...rg,'
'-"'"r

-1"0

!_1__11___i

:"

It

I.A

"

--4

10/

,,I

_S1

jir

..r
flC

1*9,1, A- ...,@

h" . ?

.i

."I

1 we
L

;i

Tjp L

p?

"W

rt"

!I- ,.
I

/.f,....

,K

_ .t

I__
_

I"

..u

_, I-

poorII
i

I
d

i,,

# ,,It

,,"n,,1i

Ex.5: from'Fanfares'

12

Irt
aW

--

+.

THE MUSICAL TIMES I MAY 1996

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-a-f-

withitsdurational
scheme
Ex.6: the'lament'themeof'Automne
a Varsovie',

8va

durations 5

10

10

8va
10q

5I

555

10

(but less so towardsthe end). At speed, the summation of all these ingredientsincluding their overtones createsan illusion not only of some indefinable supratonalitybut of exotic temperaments.As
Ligetiworked on the &tudes,new,imaginarytuning
systemsbegan to occur to him, strange,uncharted
sonic terrainswhich he was consciouslyto explore
in &tudeno.7 and, later,in the Violin Concerto.
If pantonal synthesischaracterisesthe harmony,
the real thrustof this studyis once again rhythmic.
At its heart is shiftingaccentuation,basically the
metricalexpansion and contractioninherentin the
3+2+3 divisionofan 8/8metre.The varietyof crossmetricalrelationshipswhich Ligeti manages to inventis legion. Ex.5 shows left-handgroupsof effectively9/8,then6/8,then6/4,thena chain of dotted
crotchetunits,all against8/8in therighthand. Then
thereis the notateddecelerationof the chordal fanfaremotiftowards the end of the piece, a process
similar to the prolongationwhich ends 'Desordre'.
Thus, although'Fanfares'uses quite ordinarymaterial,the resultis nevercommonplace.One feelsthat
some earlier 20th-centurycomposers might have
writtenthispiece. Yet none did. It needed the mentalityof a Ligeti- withhis East European folk-roots,
his obsessionwithpolymetricsand Dadaistic delight
in improbablelogic - to treatthe ever-shifting
relationship between immutableostinato and melodic
variablesto such a dazzling acrobaticdisplay.

THE LASTinthefirstbookofftudes,'Au-

tomne a Varsovie'is also the longest and,

and hauntperhaps,the most far-reaching
ing. Like others,it exploresmanydifferent
manifestationsof a single concept,thatof superimposing one or more melodies at differentspeeds
againsta backgroundof continuouspulses, here notated as semiquavers. Its asymmetricallayers are
the combinationofshorteror longersubever-fluid,
groups of semiquaivers with slower and faster
melodies being handled with tremendousskill and
It seems extraordinary
thatLigetican get
sensitivity.
on deawaywithbasing themusic so predominantly

10

10

scending chromaticscales, stock-in-tradeof 19thcenturymelodrama,yetproduce a studyso persontheeighty-oral, distinctiveand profound.Certainly,

so chromaticphrases treadingtheirweary descent
throughthis study- like tiredlabourersreturning
home, united in resignationand only distinguishable by the speed of theirgait- impartan enduring
bleaknessto themusic. So manyphrases,alwaysdescendingyetneverseemingto getlower,call to mind
not only the Shepard-Rissetglissando (see my first
article),but also the infinitemelancholyof Maurice
Escher's faceless figures,toilingfor the umpteenth
time around an endless staircase that gets neither
highernor lower.7Ligetihas repeatedlystressedthe
between his music and Escher's enigmatic
affinity
drawings; but this study also embodies anxieties
stemmingfromthepoliticalunrestin Poland during
the early1980s (hence the dedication'to my Polish
friends'and the Chopinesque characterof its arpeggiated figurations),concerns which are also at the
heartof Nono's Diario polacco2 of 1982.
The technicalfascinationof the music lies in the
relationshipbetween the continuous semiquavers
and the polymetriccanonic entriesof the melody,
whose phrases glide throughevery register,above
and below as well as weavingtheirway across or inside thesemiquaverpatternsthemselves.Most often
the semiquaverbackgroundis groupedin fours,but
othergroups(of two,three,five,six,seven and eight)
are used to explore new polymetricsituations.In
threeplaces thewhole textureis drawninto acceleratingcrescendos.In thesecond and thirdcrescendos,
groupsof threeare reducedto two and thento scalic
semiquaverruns.By contrast,the firstcrescendoexpands, fivesgrowinginto sixes, sevens, then eights
and so on, untilsuddenlyarrestedby theunexpected
frozenstillnessof the centralsectionfromwhich all
semiquavershave been numbinglyexpunged.
Whilst the metricalcharacterof the continuum
fluctuates,the melodies heard in reliefagainst this
semiquaver background are more formallystructured,choosing their tempos also fromdurational
units of three,four,fiveor seven semiquavers.Each
THE MUSICAL

TIMES

/ MAY 1996

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7. See 'Ascending
anddescending',

in MC Escher:

Thegraphic
work
(Berlin, 1990).

13

Sob

---------------------------------------------------------------

AVarsovie
Ex.7:from'Automne

w
jw
IV
I fYj:?
II -7
6=4

oil

bh

viff
R-W

1 -7

t,w
i w-0 I I
&L
I IA--w
IfiaIi-(a
kaA
'IA- kAd

d7M
T

r3 0
4Y

8. From Keats's'Ode
to a nightingale',
a poem to which
Ligetisaid he
returnedmany
timesduringthe
compositionof
Lontano.

is of threedistinctphrases,the thirdalways longer

than the others,thatis untiltheirseparateidentities
become subsumed in a flowering of mensural
canons. Each melodysticksrigidlyto its chosen durationalunit - which may be all dottedquavers for
instance - except that prominentnotes, generally
the last of each phrase,are of exactlydouble duration. Thus, forexample,the firstright-handmelody
containsthreephrases measuredin five-semiquaver
unitswhich are laid out as follows:
Phrase1
5 5 5 10
(.? duration
units)
5 5 5 5 10
Phrase2
Phrase3
10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 10

Musical examples
are ? Schott& Co.
Ltd and reproduced
by kind permission.

Their subsiding driftadds to the lachrymoseeffectofthis'lament'.The firsttwophrasessharestarting pitches but the second, being one unit longer,
ends a note lower.The thirdstartshigherbut twists
as it fallschromaticallyto end lower still (ex.6). As
melodies are increasinglyoverlaid,the sense of aspiring higheryet fallinglower - as if unable filtimately to gain either height or depth - becomes
moreand moreparadoxicaland disturbing.Furthermore, clearly identifiablevariants of these melanstruccholylines (stilltypifiedby theirthree-phrase
ture) occur in otherworksby Ligeti.Theybelong to
an archetypicalconcept of passacaglia, founded
upon the greatlaments of Monteverdiand Purcell,
whose reemergencein virtuallyall Ligeti'smusic of
thelast twodecades I propose to investigatein myfinal essay

CAMBRIDGE NEW MUSIC PLAYERS

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL SATURDAY11 MAY 96 AT 5.30PM

From bar 18, melodiesbegin to be superimposed

at different
tempos. Firstan alto part hurriesby in
dotted quavers, overtakingthe slower pace of the
righthand which remainshere in units of fiveand
ten. Soon three, or even four melodies (some of
themdoubled at theperfectfifth)are heard together
at different
speeds as in thepolymetriccounterpoint
at the top of page 35, where fourdescendingchromaticlines in durationalunitsof three,four,fiveand
seven are heard against a semiquaver background
groupedin threes(see ex.7).
But how to halt, how silence these doleful personnages endlesslytrudgingup and down? Ligeti's
solutionis to compoundtheirconfusionbymeans of
untilevan increasinganarchyofpitchand rhythm,
in
a
thunderous
descent
into the
erythingcollapses
bottom octave. The strangestmoment,however,is
not the end but thatchillingemptinessin the middle, where the semiquaversunexpectedlystop and
we are leftwith the melodyalone, each of its three
phrases doubled at the tritonebut at the extremities
of the keyboardfive-and-a-half
octaves apart. It is
anotherof Ligeti'smysteriousvoids, like the gaping
hole in Lontano where the whole orchestrafalls
silentleavingonlythedisembodiedwhistleofa high
violin harmonicabove the tuba'slowest note.
Adieu!adieu!thyplaintive
anthemfades
Pastthenearmeadows,overthestillstream,
andnow'tisburieddeep
Up thehill-side;
In thenextvalley-glades:
Wasita vision,or a wakingdream?
Fledis thatmusic:-Do I wakeorsleep?8

conductedbyPAUL HOSKINS

HIGHBURY FESTIVAL SUNDAY 12 MAY 96 AT 5PM

ADRIANJACKZigzag JONATHAN
POWELLNecronomic Fragments (FIRST LONDON PERFORMANCE)
EDWARDDUDLEY HUGHES Movements in Red (FIRST PERFORMANCE) JULIAN GRANTTournamentof Shadows
NewMusicPlayers...
Cambridge
thehighpoint
weekendTHE TIMES an unmitigated
joy THE INDEPENDENT topensemble
ofourdayTHE OBSERVER
ofmyBrighton
an excellent
SUNDAYTIMES tel0171 607 8848
youngBritishensemble

14

THE MUSICAL

TIMES

/ MAY 1996

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