Category Archives: Watch + Listen

Video

VideoGyörgy Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata No. 7

We hear the same melody several times. At the start we hear it alone, later on as a canon. It seems that we hear the melody each time at a different distance. This early piece already shows Ligeti’s interest in creating the illusion of space in his music.

Video

VideoGyörgy Ligeti: Étude No. 13: L’escalier du diable / The Devil’s Staircase

When I play Ligeti’s Étude No. 13: L’escalier du diable / The Devil’s Staircase, I have the feeling of climbing and of Escher’s endless staircases that Ligeti loved so much. I have the feeling not of looking at this famous architectural illusion, but of being part of it, and in vain of looking for an exit. And I feel deeply the existential dimension that this situation had for Ligeti.