The Crowd of Legiti on the Analytical Couch | MON | 01/16/2023 | 23:03

Jan 16, 2023 at 11:03 p.m

While György Ligeti String Quartet No. 1 was still heavily influenced by Béla Bartók even Ligeti’s somewhat younger colleague Hungarian composer György Kurtág called it Bartók’s String Quartet VII, The Chromatic Worlds of String Quartet No. 2, written some fifteen years later , differ greatly. Between these two works such important compositions as Atmosphères, which premiered at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 1961, Aventures, which drifted into absurdity, or the choral work Lux Aeterna.

If one can describe the first prolonged string quartet in traditional terms and categories such as melody, accompaniment, and rhythm, String Quartet No. 2 is reminiscent of mass operations, swarm-like formations, or mechano-mechanics.

Thomas Wally, in addition to working as a freelance composer and violinist, is also Senior Lecturer on Music Theory Subjects at the Vienna University of Music, looks at György Ligeti’s Second String Quartet from an analytical (auditory) perspective: What do we hear when we hear this work? What can we pay attention to? What distinguishing features should we pay attention to? The listener is provided with analytical tools, with the help of which he can perceive this music with sharp concentration.

Design: Thomas Wally, Editing: Rainer Elstner