Kammerkonzert

There must be a very good reason for any work to be performed as frequently as György Ligeti’s Kammerkonzert. In this case, there are three reasons: firstly, the Kammerkonzert is an excellent and fascinating piece which directly captivates both performers and listeners despite the work’s extreme complexity. Secondly, Ligeti treats each instrument like a soloist, ensuring that each individual musician in the ensemble has an interesting part to play. Thirdly, the composer’s concept and implementation of polymetrics is simply ingenious: the parallelism of different tempi which are here combined with ‘super fast soloist actions’ (Ligeti) produces the unique and breathtaking ‘Ligeti sound’, soaring and iridescent, for which the composer continues to be admired and revered up to the present day.