# Ligeti "Etudes"



## Guest (Mar 23, 2018)

Remarkable, virtuosic pieces for the piano. Just hearing the first one is enough to tell the listener that this is a significant, original musical voice:


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

They are incredible. L'escalier du diable became something of a virtuoso showpiece, but this performance (by the pianist many of the etudes were dedicated to, and who remains their greatest performer) shows it's so much more interesting than that


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

His etude IX "Vertige" gives me a simultaneous sense of falling and rising.


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## Guest (Mar 23, 2018)

This is extraordinary too, though there's only a tiny fragment of it available from this artist on U-Tube:


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

mmsbls said:


> His etude IX "Vertige" gives me a simultaneous sense of falling and rising.


That's a very Ligeti effect! The idea behind the etude I linked, The Devil's Staircase, is a the mathematical paradox of an ascending/descending staircase one is presumably trapped in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_stairs

Some of the slower ones have incredible atmosphere and suspense, like Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow) or Autumn in Warsaw, both of which I really like in this rather spacious interpretation.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Modern etudes are wonderful, also try the ones by William Bolcom and Rautavaara.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

This is one of my favorites. African polyrhythms, metallic sonorities... it sounds like nothing else in the piano repertoire


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2018)

Wonderful!! Chunky, complex, polyphonic and multi-layered. As I said earlier, Ligeti is a truly original voice and he will remain a very important composer. Excellent having the score to follow the music. 

This type of music, and similar, has made me entirely bored with a lot of tonal/consonant classical period music. Because it's not just tonality that makes music interesting and compelling - the endless dynamic of V-I is so yesterday (unless the composer is super ingenious). Unless composers are going on tonal 'field excursions' to a significant degree I'm generally not interested. That's why I love Monteverdi - his astringent harmonies are so elegant and interesting.


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2018)

I've always enjoyed this performance:






I bought tickets to hear Jeremy Denk play the complete Etudes a few years ago, but he walked out and announced that "while it sounded like a good idea, it nearly drove me insane trying to learn them all for a live performance" (perhaps a slight paraphrase). He did play a few then filled the rest of the first half with Liszt. A fine performance, but I was so disappointed at the same time!


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