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

Harry Partch - The World of Harry Partch (1969)

Something truly unique today.  Californian composer, theorist and musician Harry Partch (1901-1974) not only rejected Western tonal music, but inspired by just intonation (which he considered to be the true and suppressed form in which music was organised since antiquity) he devised a 43-tone scale and an arsenal of bespoke instruments to perform his works.  This was his first major-label release - the original liner notes are worth reading in full to gain more of an insight into Partch's musical worldview, and can be found here.

Three wonderful, life-affirming examples of Partch's music are featured here.  The 17-minute Daphne Of The Dunes, originally the soundtrack to a short film called Windsong (1958), moves through multiple short segments.  Some are highly percussive and gamelan-esque, and others focus on the shimmering, resonating multiple strings of his bespoke zithers, or 'kitharas'.

Partch also believed that music, dance and theatre shouldn't be distinct specialties, and the second track here creates a Beat-era dramatic narrative in 9 minutes.  This piece, its full title Barstow: Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California, introduces each scene with a little marimba melody before each fascinating slice of life is recited and then sung.  Finally, Castor & Pollux is an absorbing 16 minutes of bell-chime melodies and various kithara and marimba workouts, and more of a rhythmic drive overall reflecting its purpose as a theatre/dance piece.  Highly recommended. 

This CD adds 16 bonus tracks of Partch demonstrating his instruments, which is worth a listen to get more understanding of the unique sounds in his works; "The Instruments Of Harry Partch" was originally included as part of his "Delusion Of The Fury" 3LP set in 1971.

link