György Ligeti - Clear Or Cloudy: Complete Recordings On Deutsche Grammophon (2006 compi, rec. 1968-96)

An epic, five-hour immersion in the music of one of the most extraordinary avant-garde composers of the 20th century - and one of the best known, thanks in no small part to Stanley Kubrick.  György Sándor Ligeti was born in Transylvania in 1923, and this box set was released to mark his death in 2006, and to collect all of the recordings of his music for the DG label.

Sequenced in roughly chronological order, the box first highlights some of Ligeti's least-known works from his time in Budapest in the early 1950s.  This chamber music barely hints at the otherwordliness to come, but still managed to fall foul of official censors, and wasn't performed in its entirety for some time afterwards - in fact, these are the most recent recordings in the set.  Disc 1 is rounded out by the 10 Pieces For Wind Quintet and Second String Quartet, both from 1968 when Ligeti had settled in Vienna and was about to unleash his most memorable music.

Disc 2, then, collects the familiar stuff from Ligeti at the height of his powers, and was re-released as a single-disc compilation in 2012.  The dense, slowly shifting microtonality of his orchestral works like Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna and Lontano is here, along with two stunning pieces for solo organ.  The only work Ligeti would produce that's more alien-sounding than this period would be his brief foray into electronic music under Stockhausen at WDR in the late 50s, but all that really survives of that is Artikulation, which never appeared on a DG record so is missing here - find it on this compilation.

Disc 3 takes us further into the 60s and early 70s, with the vocal works Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures (alternate recordings on Wergo in link at the bottom), plus more concertos.  Announced with a snippet of solo trumpet, Disc 4 covers late-period Ligeti, as his focus turned to rhythm and syncopation, with some piano pieces.  Then his last two great concertos, one for piano and one for violin, prove that Ligeti was still a unique voice into the 80s and 90s.  An absolutely stunning collection, taking in all the major bases of a unique genius.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
Disc 3 link
Disc 4 link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Requiem, plus Wergo versions of Aventures/Nouvelles Aventures