Hungarian composer György Ligeti passed away today. In the popular mind, he is best known for pieces that ended up in a trio of Stanley Kubrick films: 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and Eyes Wide Shut. You know when the Monolith appears to the apes and there's that infernal chorus singing? That's Ligeti's work. He was initially influenced by Hungarian folk music before he developed micropolyphony, dabbled in electronic music, and then became influenced by minimalism as well as African polyrhythms. He has quite a varied body of works.
You can learn more about him by checking out this page (Shockware required). Also note that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be performing some Ligeti next season in February - Lontano and Atmospheres, both of which were featured in 2001.
1 comment:
Oh, how sad.
The D
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