György Ligeti Featured on New York Philharmonic’s Hungarian Echoes Series

The New York Philharmonic features three György Ligeti works in their upcoming series, Hungarian Echoes: A Philharmonic Festival from March 10 through March 26. Under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, the festival focuses on three eras of Hungarian folk music, ranging from the 18th through the 21st century. The first concert in the four part series showcases Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, featuring Marino Formenti.

Hungarian Echoes II features Ligeti’s Concert Românesc, a work composed in 1951 but unheard until 1971 as a result of having been banned by the Hungarian government. Inspired deeply by the composer's love of Romanian folk music, the concerto consists of four short movements that follow one another without pause. The third movement unveils a technique that was to return heavily in later works such as the Horn Trio and the Hamburg Concerto, in which the horns play with “natural tuning,” without valves. This was perhaps also meant to call to mind Alp horns echoing in the Carpathian Mountains, a sound reminiscent of Ligeti’s childhood.

The fourth and final installment of the series features Clocks and Clouds, a haunting, metamorphic composition based on an essay by Karl Raimund Popper. The women of the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt join the Philharmonic as they perform the work's unorthodox text of various strange noises and rhythms with no actual words sung.

We are happy to announce that the Parker Quartet’s recording of Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 (Naxos) was awarded this year's Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance. Purchase the recording here.

György Ligeti-Composer Profile

For additional information on Hungarian Echoes: A Philharmonic Festival visit www.nyphil.org/hungarianfest.

György Ligeti
Piano Concerto (1985-1988)
for piano and orchestra
1(pic).1.1(alt-okarina in G).1-1.1.1.0-1 or 2 perc-str
22’

Concert Românesc (1951)
for orchestra
2(2.pic).2(2.ca).2.2-3(3. outside the ensemble).2.0.0-2perc-str
12’

Clocks and Clouds (1972-73)
for twelve-voice women’s choir and orchestra
5(1.afl, 3.5.pic).3.5(5.bcl).4(4.cbsn)-0.2.0.0-perc-2hp.cel-str
13’