Performed by the NMC Ensemble on Feb. 13, 2020 at the Harbourfront Theatre in Toronto as part of NMC's 2020 Serious Smile concert.
Videography: Taylor Long
Sound Engineer: Dennis Patterson
www.newmusicconcerts.com
Chamber Concerto Program Note
The Chamber Concerto is a work for winds, piano, harpsichord, and strings by György Ligeti. Composed between 1969 and 1970, the work was premiered on October 1, 1970 by Friedrich Cerha, to whom the piece is dedicated, and the ensemble Die Reihe.
In 1941, Ligeti entered the conservatory in Kolozsvár. After the war, he resumed his studies at the music academy in Budapest, graduating in 1949. He remained there teaching until his escape in 1956. In the West he met Karlheinz Stockhausen, attended some of the influential summer festivals at Darmstadt, and worked in the elec- tronic studio of West German Radio in Cologne. In the 1960s Ligeti began working with pure sonority in new ways. He composed the landmark Atmos- phères in 1961, and he became famous when this piece was used (without his permission) in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968.
The following year he began work on the Chamber Concerto. In describing his Chamber Concerto Ligeti remarks, “The four movements contrast in character. The first is polyphonic and contains micropolyphonically interwoven lines that merge together to form a homogeneous texture. The second movement is homophonic and static, the third mechanical in the manner of a clockwork mechanism (my 1962 Poème symphonique for one hundred metronomes serves as a model here), and the fourth movement is an insanely virtuosic presto.” This four-movement piece is a concerto inasmuch as all thirteen players are virtuoso soloists and are all treated as equals. We are not dealing with the usual type of concerto in which soli and tutti alternate, but with a piece for thirteen concertante soloists. The voices always develop simultaneously, but in varying rhythmic configurations and generally at differing speeds. This piece continues to be one of Ligeti’s most frequently performed works, and for good reason. The sonic landscape captivates both performers and listeners despite the clear unfolding complexity. The implementation of the polymetric nature of the music is a testament to the composer’s genius: different tempi overlap in parallel construction with undulating soloistic flourishes. This produces the soaring and iridescent aura of sound so unique to Ligeti’s voice. This work has become a towering masterpiece of the twentieth century and a hallmark of Ligeti’s output.
- Adam Scime