What Sony abandoned, Teldec has rescued. Cumulatively taken, the ambitious Ligeti Project (formerly known as The Ligeti Edition on Sony) now runs to its ninth volume, with a final four to be released by 2003, Ligeti’s 80th birthday year. (The “I” of the title refers only to Teldec’s involvement–don’t let that deter you from finding the eight previous issues, which for the time being are still in print.)
Only one of these works is new to disc: Mysteries of the Macabre, a reworking of arias from the Hungarian composer’s opera Le Grand Macabre for solo trumpet and orchestra. Melodien, the Chamber Concerto for 13 players, and the Piano Concerto have appeared on disc before (the latter two multiple times; unfortunately, fine performances of these works on DG, Decca, Wergo, and Sony now appear to be out of print). But this recording is required listening both for Ligeti fans and for those who are just starting to explore his music.
Ligeti calls the fanciful, shimmering Presto movement of the Chamber Concerto “insanely virtuosic”. That’s truth in advertising, and actually it’s an epithet that applies equally well to all these works. The only way to pull them off is to be insanely virtuosic; otherwise, the sheer difficulty of these scores would create train wreck after train wreck. Over the years, Pierre-Laurent Aimard has shown a special affinity with Ligeti; he has recorded this concerto before with Boulez, and he has been featured repeatedly on the Sony volumes (perhaps most gloriously in Volume 3, playing the Études). Peter Masseurs is brilliant as well, snickering through Mysteries with a certain bite. Astonishingly dense weaves of rhythm are a common element here, from the Chamber Concerto and Melodien from the early 1970s to the newer works, which are partly informed by the polyrhythms of Ligeti’s beloved Central African music, which he began studying in the early 1980s. The clarity, deft balance, and superb nuances that these players bring to the scores, paired with the warmth and clarity of the sonics, makes this a must-own.
