Gyorgy Ligeti - Chamber Music

György Ligeti Edition, Vol. 7 

Chamber Music (1998)

György Ligeti

Trio für Violin, Horn and Piano

Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet

Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet

Sonata for Solo-Viola

Tabea Zimmermann, viola

Sachko Gawriloff, violin

Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

London Winds

This is the last installment of Ligeti Edition before Le Grand Macabre, and it focuses on chamber music other than string quartets. The 1982 Horn Trio is the first of Ligeti's late period neoclassical works, and is far more conventional in style and form than his sound surface works of the 1950s through 1970s. Ligeti can't resist throwing some quirks in though: he calls for the violin and horn to play in just intonation while the piano remains in equal temperament. You hear this clash most clearly in the slow forth movement (what seems "out of tune", especially in the horn, is how it's supposed to sound). The effect reminds me of the last of Ives' Three Quarter-Tone Pieces —itself a slow chorale. After Ligeti brings the movement to a climax, the violin and horn sustain notes at the extremes of their registers, recalling a similar passage in the last movement of the Second String Quartet (though the effect is somewhat undermined by the horn's inability to indefinitely sustain a pedal tone). Throughout, Ligeti emphasizes a descending me-re-do motive borrowed from Beethoven's "Les Adieux" sonata that's also used by Copland in the slow finale of his adventuresome piano quartet, which this horn trio also reminds me of.

In a previous life I was an oboist frustrated by the relegation of the wind quintet to the minor leagues of traditional chamber ensembles in the estimation of many musicians. It's true that this particular assembly of five relatively heterogeneous instruments based on little more than their longstanding taxonomic association has produced little in the way of first-rate music. Indeed there's nothing prior to the 20th century for this ensemble that need concern anyone other than a wind player, and even the repertory from the 20th century consists largely of offerings by minor composers. Most great composers passed on the format, even if, as in the case of Stravinsky and Varèse, they otherwise enjoyed writing for winds alone. Even when a first rate composer like Schoenberg or Elliott Carter did begrudge us a quintet, the results have usually been disappointing. Hope comes in the form of Hindemith's Kleine Kammermusik, Stockhausen's underappreciated gem Adieu, and Ligeti's Ten Pieces. These aren't the quality of the Second String Quartet or the Chamber Concerto, but there's still a lot of interest. Movements five and six, with their rapid repeated notes, are reminiscent of Xenakis' Akraka, as well as Ligeti's other "metronome" pieces (like the third movement of the Second String Quartet). Movement eight uses minor third tremolos like the last movements of the Second String Quartet and Double Concerto.

The Ten Pieces are very troublesome to play: Ligeti annoyingly demands that the oboist double on both English horn and oboe d'amore, which splits an awfully fine timbral hair and leaves you with three different instruments to try to keep warmed up. And you must have a pretty fast tongue to play some of the staccato passages as written. As a result they're seldom heard in performance. This is too bad, especially as regards the ninth piece, which attempts to explore difference tones heard within your inner ear when you hear two loud pitches very close in frequency, an effect that really works only when you hear the work live (it's largely lost in this recording).

Also featured here are the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet. An arrangement of parts of the early Musica Ricercata album (see LE3), they revert to the mediocre standard of most wind quintets music. Sadly, being far easier on both players and listeners, but possessing the same name recognition, the Bagatelles get performed a lot more frequently than the Ten Pieces.

Last on the CD is the eclectic solo viola sonata from Ligeti's late period. It has some striking moments, such as the end of the first movement where the viola ascends as the bowing goes to sul ponticello, then to just bowing noise, before fading out. The presto is also remarkable, written and performed in a way that makes it hard to believe there's only one instrument playing. The combination of a fast tempo, loud dynamic marking AND a mute is quite unusual for this instrument. The last movement is a chaconne that wouldn't be out of place in an anthology of Britten's music.

It's probably fair to say that LE7 contains none of Ligeti's greatest works, but it does have some fine music, capably played, and is a worthwhile addition to any music lover's library even if you're not a confirmed Ligeti fan.