Gyorgy Ligeti: Music of the Imagination

by Richard Steinitz

An illuminating study of the life and work of Gy�rgy Ligeti, one of the best-loved and most original composers of our time.

For 50 years Gy�rgy Ligeti has pursued a boldly independent and uncompromising course, yet his music is widely loved and admired. Ever since Stanley Kubrick's (unsanctioned) use of his music on the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey, interest in Ligeti has extended far beyond the classical domain. He is the only living composer whose complete output, including juvenilia, is being systematically issued on CD.

Published to coincide with the composer's eightieth birthday, Richard Steinitz's compelling new book is both an illuminating study of the music and its associative ideas - drawn from literature, theatre, the visual arts, fractal mathematics, ethnic cultures and other maverick composers - and of Ligeti the man. Ligeti has confided in Steinitz a mass of previously unknown biographical information. The result is an astonishing account of his early upbringing in Romania, of his terrifying yet surreal experiences in the war, and of his difficulties attempting to forge an identity as a young composer under repressive censorship in Communist Hungary, before his dramatic escape to the West in 1956.

The story continues via Ligeti's association with the Western avant-garde and his increasingly masterful sequence of highly individual compositions, which Steinitz brings vividly to life through informative commentaries as well as through the composer's own words.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

662 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 20, 2003

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and thorough biography/study of the great composer. On a narrative level, it is most compelling in the earlier section, given Ligeti's life in Hungary under the two evil totalitarianisms of fascism and communism. After his escape to the West and first international success in the 1960s, the drama mostly went out of his life, which inevitably makes for a less interesting story (but thank heavens so, for Ligeti and music's sake). There are number of interesting biographical topics explored, nevertheless: the slightly fraught business dealings around Kubrick's use of his music, the reasons why the Tempest and Alice operas were never completed, the tortuous attempts to record his complete works, made possible by the generous patronage of a Swiss banker.
Each of the works is given a full exposition. Inevitably, the book relies on quite a lot of technical language in talking about the music, which means that the general reader is at a disadvantage. There are occasions where the author uses more metaphorical means to explicate and bring across the music, and these are very successful. It is enlightening to have Ligeti's musical, literary, scientific and cultural influences so extensively explored.
After the Études, the book gets a little rushed. Although it ends in 2002, before the composer's death in 2006, Ligeti has composed everything he was ever to, which makes the hope of new music in the final paragraphs poignant and forever to be unfulfilled. But the book does bring across strongly how valuable, painstaking, and innovative was Ligeti's contribution to 20th century music.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is essentially a biography of Ligeti's composition career, tracing his education, works, and the development of his compositional technique. Steinitz occasionally mentions a more personal life event, like the birth of Ligeti's son, but the focus is almost entirely on the music. Steinitz is a good writer, and his obvious admiration for Ligeti and his music is a big plus.I especially liked Steinitz' attention to the musical problems Ligeti was attempting to solve and the ways his techniques, aims, and aesthetic concerns changed over time.

[Ruxandra Balboa-Pöysti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating biography. Still in the process of reading it but can't avoid thinking it's worth a movie exacerbating the playful, experimental and necessarily schizophrenic character - successively Hungarian, then Romanian, then Hungarian again - of this composer - and a half a century of extremism in Europe.

[Doria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very engaging and interesting biography of the Hungarian composer György Ligeti. Includes listening guides for many pieces, and even a few samples of Ligeti's handwritten scores. Written towards the end of the composer's life, it ends on a hopeful note, anticipating the arrival of music which would, sadly, never be written.