György Ligeti (1923-2006) • Vocal Works CD

György Ligeti (1923-2006) • Vocal Works CD

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This disc was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Vocal Performance."
Volume four of Sony's Ligeti Edition concentrates on his chamber music for voice. The 'Nonsense Madrigals,' mostly setting Lewis Carroll, are part of Ligeti's attempt to create a consonant music that is not dependent on tonality. The King's Singers capture their special whimsy perfectly. 'Mysteries of the Macabre' is an arrangement of the three arias for the Chief of Secret Police from Ligeti's opera 'Le grande Macabre.' Labeled the most difficult music ever written for coloratura soprano, it is also perhaps the funniest. Sibylle Ehlert is simply breathtaking. Ligeti's theatrical experiments 'Aventures' and 'Nouvelle Aventures,' reportedly musical imitations of a cocktail party in a language not understood, are also wonderfully funny.
Ligeti's complete output for voice and piano is included here, the early pieces from his Hungarian years divided among Rosemary Hardy, Eva Wedin and Malena Ernman with Christiane Oelze taking his sole mature song, 'Der Sommer.' Ligeti is perhaps the most approachable member of the 1960s avant-garde and this disc is a particular gem in a landmark series of recordings.

 

Nonsense Madrigals
1 no 1, Two dreams and Little bat
2. no 2, Cuckoo in the pear-tree
3. no 3, The alphabet
4. no 4, Flying Robert
5. no 5, The Lobster quadrille
6. no 6, A long, sad tale
7. Mysteries of the Macabre
8. Aventures
9. Nouvelles aventures
10. Der Sommer
Three Weöres Songs
11 no 1, Táncol a hold
12.  no 2, Gyümölcafürt
13. no 3, Kalmár jött nagy madarakkal 
Five Arany Songs
14. no 1, Calfa sugár
15. no 2, A legszebb virág
16. no 3, A csendes dalokhól
17. no 4, A bujdosó
18. no 5, Az ördög elvitte a fináncot 
Four Wedding Dances
19. no 1, A menyaszony szép virág
20. no 2, A kapuban a szekér
21. no 3, Hopp ide tisztán
22. no 4, Mikor kedves laci bátyám

 

King's Singers - Sibylle Ehlert (Soprano), Phyllis Bryn-Julson (Soprano), Omar Ebrahim (Baritone), Rose Taylor (Alto), Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen & Philharmonia Orchestra members - Irina Kataeva (Piano), Christiane Oelze (Soprano) - Rosemary Hardy (Soprano), Malena Ernman (Soprano), Eva Wedin (Soprano), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Piano)

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Sony Classical
György Ligeti Edition Vol. 4
Total Time 68:59