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György Ligeti
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
György Ligeti grew up as a Hungarian Jew in Transylvania, survived the war and fled to the West in 1956. In Cologne he got to know the electronic studio, and after that he wrote orchestral works made up of dense, slowly shifting textures of sound. Atmosphères (1961) has no melody or metre to follow, only colours that flow into one another. Stanley Kubrick used it, together with Lux aeterna, in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Listening
Listening tip. Listen to Atmosphères and hear how an enormous sound without melody or rhythm slowly changes colour, as if you are moving through clouds.
Atmosphères (Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado) · György Ligeti, 1961- Lux aeterna (NDR Chor, Helmut Franz) · György Ligeti, 1966
Musica ricercata nr. 7 (Erika Haase) · György Ligeti, 1953
Atmosphères · György Ligeti, 1968
Discography
Studio albums
- 1968Bedford: Two Poems for Chorus / Ligeti: Lux aeterna / Mellnäs: Succsim / Kopelent: Matka
- 1968Kagel: Phantasie für Orgel mit Obbligati / Allende-Blin: Sonorités / Ligeti: Volumina / Étude Nr. 1 (»Harmonies«)
- 1969Requiem / Lontano / Continuum
- 1970II. Streichquartett / String Quartet / III. Streichquartett
- 1983Chamber Concerto - Ramifications - Aventures - Nouvelles aventures
- 1985Requiem / Aventures / Nouvelles Aventures
- 1987Double Concerto for Flute & Oboe / San Francisco Polyphony / String Quartet no. 1 / Continuum / Musica ricercata
- 1987Études pour piano / Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus
- 1987Ligeti: Études pour piano, premier livre / Messiaen: Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (sélection)
- 1988Kammerkonzert / Ramifications / Lux aeterna / Atmosphères
- 1988Streichquartett Nr. 1 / Streichquartett Nr. 2
- 1989The Exuberant Harpsichord
- 1990Lux æterna
- 1990Melodien / Double Concerto / Chamber Concerto
- 1991Le Grand Macabre
- 1991Lutosławski, Ligeti: Streichquartette / Schnittke: Kanon In Memoriam I. Strawinsky
- 1992Horn Trios
- 1992Ligeti / Villa-Lobos / Barber / Hindemith / Stockhausen
- 1993Horn Trios by Brahms & Ligeti
- 1993Of Eternal Light
- 1993Trio für Violine, Horn und Klavier / Passacaglia ungherese / Hungarian Rock / Continuum / Monument · Selbstportrait · Bewegung
- 1994Boulez Conducts Ligeti: Concertos for Cello / Violin / Piano
- 1994Cello Concerto / Piano Concerto / Chamber Concerto
- 1996Continuum / 10 Stücke für Bläserquintett / Artikulation / Glissandi / 2 Etüden / Volumina
- 1996Emotion: Trumpet Solo Pieces
- 1996Ligeti Edition 1: String Quartets and Duets
- 1996Ligeti Edition 2: A Cappella Choral Works
- 1996Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano: Études / Musica ricercata
- 1996Ligeti Edition 4: Vocal Works: Madrigals / Mysteries / Aventures / Songs
- 1996The Complete Piano Music, Volume I
- 1997Beethoven / Webern / Schoenberg / Ligeti / Boulez
- 1997Ligeti Edition 5: Mechanical Music
- 1997Ligeti Edition 6: Keyboard Works: Piano Four-Hands / Piano / 2 Pianos / Harpsichord / Organ
- 1997Sciarrino: Autoritratto nella notte / Ligeti: 6 Bagatellen / Doppelkonzert / Schoenberg: Kammersymphonie Nr. 1
- 1998Complete Piano Works, Volume 2
- 1998Ligeti Edition 7: Chamber Music: Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano / Ten Pieces & Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet / Sonata for Solo Viola
- 1998Musica ricercata / Capriccio 1 & 2 / Invention / Monument / Selbstportrait / Bewegung
- 1999Le Grand Macabre
- 2000Œuvres pour violoncelle seul
- 2000The Ligeti Project I: Melodien / Chamber Concerto / Piano Concerto / Mysteries of the Macabre
- 2000Un portrait
- 2000Works for Piano & Cembalo
- 2000Works for Solo Viola
- 2001Ligeti | Banda Linda
- 2001Ligeti | Gamelan
- 2001Mozart, Reicha, Ligeti, Villa-Lobos
- 2001Mysterious Morning
- 2001Nuits – weiß wie Lilien
- 2001Piano Works
- 2001Trios for Violin, Horn and Piano
- 2002Études pour piano
- 2002Opus Number Zoo: Twentieth Century Wind Quintets
- 2002The Ligeti Project II: Lontano / Atmosphères / Apparitions / San Francisco Polyphony / Concert românesc
- 2002The Ligeti Project III
- 2003Études Pour Piano
- 2003Études: Books I and II (1-14a)
- 2003Piano & Harpsichord Works
- 2003The Ligeti Project IV: Hamburg Concerto / Double Concerto / Ramifications / Requiem
- 2003Works for Piano, Two Pianos and Four Hands (soundtrack)
- 2004The Ligeti Project V
- 2005La Langue maternelle
- 2005Nancarrow: String Quartet no. 3 / Ligeti: String Quartet no. 2 / Dutilleux: String Quarted "Ainsi la nuit"
- 2005String Quartets 1 & 2
- 2006Complete Piano Music
- 2008Ligeti: Lux aeterna / Heppener: Im Gestein
- 2008Ludwig Quandt Solo
- 2009Alone: Works for Solo Cello
- 2009Sonatas & Études
- 2009String Quartets nos. 1 and 2 / Andante and Allegretto
- 2010Bartók: First Rhapsodie / Deux portraits / Kodály: Dances from Galánta / Háry János Suite / Ligeti: Romanian Concerto
- 2010Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre”
- 2010Metamorphosis
- 2010String Quartets 1 & 2 / Lux Aeterna / Ramifications / Choral Works / Six Bagatelles
- 2011Ligeti / Desenclos / Bozza / Nagao
- 2011Requiem / Apparitions / San Francisco Polyphony
- 2012Bartók / Eötvös / Ligeti
- 2012Études pour piano
- 2012Horn Trios
- 2012Ligeti / Beethoven
- 2012Ligeti / Pintscher / Cage / Xenakis
- 2012Ligeti: Sonata for Viola Solo
- 2012Music for Viola
- 2012Musica ricercata: Música para piano de Ligeti, Messiaen, Takemitsu y Cage
- 2013Bartók / Kurtág / Ligeti
- 2013Fulgurances: Works for Piano of the XXth Century
- 2013Ligeti: String Quartets / Barber: Adagio
- 2013Métamorphoses nocturnes
- 2013Musical Toys
- 2013Violin Concerto / Lontano / Atmosphères / San Francisco Polyphony
- 2013volumina - orgelwerke
- 2014Byrd / Bach / Ligeti
- 2014Cello Concerto / Mysteries of the Macabre / Piano Concerto
- 2015Bartók / Ligeti
- 2015Ludus Verbalis Vol. III & IV
- 2015Métamorphoses
- 2016Piano Concerto / Cello Concerto / Chamber Concerto / Melodien
- 2016Six bagatelles / Kammerkonzert / Dix pièces pour quintette à vent
- 2017Bloch: Suites for Solo Cello / Dallapiccola: Ciaccona, intermezzo e adagio / Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
- 2017Kontrastprogramm
- 2017Labyrinth
- 2017Requiem
- 2018Continuum
- 2018Mysteries
- 2018Quintettes à vent
- 2018Ravel / Franck / Ligeti / Messiaen
- 2018Strauss: Schlagobers / Debussy: Jeux / Ligeti: Melodien
- 2019Alles Walzer, einmal anders!
- 2019Quartets
- 2019Violin Concertos
- 2020Kodály: Duo / Solo Cello Sonata / Ligeti: Solo Cello Sonata
- 2021Not all cats are grey
- 2021The 18 Études
- 2022Bartók / Ligeti / Veress / Eötvös
- 2022Duo Solo
- 2022Lux aeterna: Choral Works by György Ligeti and Zoltán Kodály
- 2023Complete Works for a cappella Choir
- 2023Études / Capriccios
- 2023Harpsichord Works
- 2023Hungarian Songs
- 2023Kodály & Ligeti: Sonatas for Solo Cello / Ligeti: Sonata for Viola Solo
- 2023Ligeti: Sonata per Violoncello solo
- 2023Metamorphosis Ligeti
- 2023Modern Horn Trios
- 2024Eastern Reflections
- 2024Études pour Piano
- 2024Horn Trios
- 2024Ligeti
- 2024Responses to Ligeti
- 2025Ferne Stimmen
- 2025Ligeti: String Quartets nos. 1 & 2 / Bartók: String Quartet no. 4
- 2025Quartet Integra: Beethoven · Ligeti · Lefkowitz
- 2025Violin, Piano & Romanesc Concertos
- 2026Variation[s], Vol. 3
- ?Barber: Summer Music / Ligeti: Six Bagatelles / Mathias: Quintet / Carlson: Nightwings for Woodwind Quintet & Tape
In School of Rock
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Mentioned in other articles
- Sound masses: Xenakis, Ligeti and Penderecki Genre
In Atmosphères (1961), György Ligeti had an orchestra slowly shift in colour, and Krzysztof Penderecki wrote his Threnos for the victims of Hiroshima (1960) for 52 strings.
- Modernism, atonality and avant-garde Genre
For 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick chose existing works by György Ligeti, and for The Shining (1980) music by Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki.