Ligeti and Bartok, out there at the edge of the known universe
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
It’s 30 years since I heard Gyorgy Ligeti explain why he was allowing his first string quartet to be performed after four decades lying in a drawer. The quartet, composed in 1954, was too close to its sources. “It’s Bartók’s seventh,” said Ligeti, “but I’ve now realised that’s not such a bad thing.”
Titled Metamorphoses Nocturnes, the quartet has buzzing insects, whispering grasses and many things that go bump in the night….
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
In The Critic here.
With all due respect (a lot of it in this case!), Ligeti’s 1st is better than any of Bartok’s 6. It’s a mind-boggingly beautiful work.
I love it when people use “with all due respect” when they mean just the opposite. A valid opinion but a useless comparison (“better”). My love of the Ligeti doesn’t diminish my love of the Bartok works and vice versa.