Top 5 Favourite Ligeti Works

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

What are yours? There's probably a thread for this already but oh well here's another one deal with it

Chamber Concerto
'Etudes' for piano (all the books!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
Atmosphères
Lontano
Requiem
Le Grand Macabre
String Quartet no. 1
Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Ok for those voting for the etudes, are there any in particular which you like the most?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I will have to think about which etudes I like the most.......but off the top of my head I think 13 is my favourite

[Mirror Image]

Damn, this is difficult! Let's see...(in no particular order):

Clocks & Clouds
Violin Concerto
Requiem
Lontano
San Francisco Polyphony

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Damn, this is difficult! Let's see...(in no particular order):

Clocks & Clouds
Violin Concerto
Requiem
Lontano
San Francisco Polyphony

Really nice list! Certainly a lot from his middle period. Would Ligeti from the 60s and 70s be the Ligeti you tend to gravitate towards?

[Mirror Image]

Really nice list! Certainly a lot from his middle period. Would Ligeti from the 60s and 70s be the Ligeti you tend to gravitate towards?

Thanks, but I'm not too familiar with Ligeti's different periods. Melodien, the Piano Concerto, and Atmosphères could have made it into my 'Top 5' as well.

[amw]

Melodien
San Francisco Polyphony
Hamburg Concerto
Violin Concerto
Chamber Concerto
Lux aeterna
Requiem
Piano Concerto
String Quartet No. 2
Volumina
Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedűvel

don't ask me to put them in order though. Melodien & SFP are my favourites overall.

[aleazk]

What are yours? There's probably a thread for this already but oh well here's another one deal with it

Chamber Concerto
'Etudes' for piano (all the books!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
Atmosphères
Lontano
Requiem
Le Grand Macabre
String Quartet no. 1
Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel

WHY the Piano Concerto is not in your list? Explain now. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

WHY the Piano Concerto is not in your list? Explain now. 

HAHA I have heard it so many times I have kinda grown bored of it

It IS good, as is everything he wrote (except for Régi magyar társas táncok) but I like some of the other concertos more

[Trout]

Etudes
Musica Ricercata
Violin Concerto
Le Grand Macabre
String Quartet No. 2

...but I couldn't leave out:

Piano Concerto
String Quartet No. 1
Chamber Concerto
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano
Lontano

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I feel that I must also mention his Three Pieces for Two Pianos. Fun to listen to, and stylistically important as it forms a clear bridge from his middle period of composition and his late period.

[pjme]

easy: Requiem.

[nathanb]

My initial, somewhat lazy answer:

Artikulation
Atmospheres
Etudes
Hamburg Concerto
Horn Trio
Le Grand Macabre
Lontano
Piano Concerto
Requiem
Volumina

[James]

Both SQs (2)
Piano Etudes (the best of them)
Melodien

Very easily reaching 5.

Humor, forensic rigor, overall musical excellence, genius.

With a composer like Ligeti (who is really one of the very best of the the post-war era, and of the 20th century itself) .. it's easy to keep listing stuff ..

[(poco) Sforzando]

Piano Concerto
Etudes
Horn Trio
Grand Macabre - though not so much for its music but the total concept. A high point of Alan Gilbert's tenure with the NY Phil was a semi-staged concert version where the whole experience just blew me away.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Piano Concerto
Etudes
Horn Trio
Grand Macabre - though not so much for its music but the total concept. A high point of Alan Gilbert's tenure with the NY Phil was a semi-staged concert version where the whole experience just blew me away.

I agree with you on Le Grand Macabre. I have always felt that the music alone, without the drama, dialogue, design etc. really needs the added theatrical elements for it to work........

[Gaspard de la nuit]

Besides the Études, my personal favorites are the late 60s/early 70s orchestral works:

Lotano
Melodien
Clocks & Clouds
San Francisco Polyphony
Double Concerto

I usually put them together in a playlist and listen to them all at once, treating them as one long orchestral work.

[71 dB]

I'm so new to Ligeti's music I don't have a clue what my favorites are. Ligeti is experienced rather than remembered which makes comparing difficult.

[PerfectWagnerite]

The only 2 i like are Lontano and Atmospheres.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm so new to Ligeti's music I don't have a clue what my favorites are. Ligeti is experienced rather than remembered which makes comparing difficult.

What do you mean by remembered? I find I can hear many works by Ligeti in my head by remembering how they go, but I don't know if that's what you mean.