Ligeti: Étude No. 2 'Cordes à vide'

In 1985 György Ligeti produced an entire volume of piano etudes, to which he added two further volumes in the following sixteen years. Quite a few people in New Music circles then reacted with a lack of appreciation and understanding: Whereas the lively piano etude tradition of the 19th century – inextricably linked with Czerny, Chopin or Liszt – was continued by Bartók, Debussy or Stravinsky at the beginning of the 20th century, this tradition no longer existed by the end of the 20th century. The etude appeared to be a relic from another time.

Ligeti had various reasons for these compositions: He was concerned to revive a great musical tradition and to explore its potential in a contemporary form. Furthermore he liked to play the piano himself, although with “inadequate pianistic technique”, as he once remarked. Apparently, it was sufficient to create some of the most difficult works for piano in the entire piano repertoire: “The anatomical situation of my hands and the configuration of the piano keyboard determined the products of my imagination.” His piano etudes have also to be seen in the context of his admiration for the great piano literature from Bach to Debussy. Furthermore they are exercises in polyphonic writing and playing technique, with polyphony here having to be understood in a considerably expanded sense. For Ligeti’s piano writing is not only polyphonic in the customary sense, but also polyrhythmic, poly-temporal, and even poly-ethnic (he uses material from very different European and non-European musical cultures – from the Balkans via Africa to Asia). In the end, his piano etudes are considerably more than mere technical exercises. Each piece is at the same time a poetic miracle, transcending its given musical and technical tasks.

Nonesuch releases the label debut from acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk, Ligeti/Beethoven, on May 14, 2012. The solo recording features Ligeti's Piano Études, Books One and Two, which Denk memorably performed in a series of recitals in 2011. The New York Times said his reading of the works left "audience members grasping for superlatives at intermission." The sets of études, six from Book One and seven from Book Two, bookend Denk's recording of Beethoven's Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111, on the album. The Times said of Denk's 2010 Mostly Mozart Festival performance of the work: "This account, alive to every suggestion and nuance in the score, was an absolute joy to witness. Mr. Denk, clearly, is a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination-both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing."

In his Ligeti/Beethoven liner note, Denk explains his reasons for recording these works together: "One curious connection...is the way both Ligeti and Beethoven relate themselves to jazz (and to syncopation, rhythmic dislocation generally). Many people get disturbed, or confused, by Beethoven's anachronistic boogie-woogie; but I can't help thinking that however unlikely, this is an outgrowth, too, of ecstasies latent in the holy theme. There is a sense of ecstasy, too, in the discombobulations of Ligeti...

"But the most significant connection for me is between Beethoven's vast timeless canvas and Ligeti's bite-sized bits of infinity. Almost every étude visits the infinite; Ligeti uses it almost as a kind of cadence, a reference point. From simplicity, he ranges into unimaginable complexity; he wanders to the quietest and loudest extremes; he veers off the top and bottom of the keyboard. Always the infinite is lurking around, reminding you that it's not impossible, that it exists. I think of the way, among other things, Beethoven drifts off at the end of the Arietta, the way he indicates ending without ending, implies an infinite space of silence surrounding the work."

Jeremy Denk has steadily built a reputation as one of today's most compelling and persuasive pianists with an unusually broad repertoire. He has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras, including the Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New World, St. Louis, and San Francisco symphonies, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Philharmonia Orchestra in London. He appears often in recital in New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. Denk maintains working relationships with a number of living composers and has participated in many premieres. Denk's recording of music by Charles Ives, released on his own Think Denk Media label, made many Best of 2010 lists, including those of the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and New York magazine. He also is an avid chamber musician and a respected writer, both on his blog and in such publications as the New Yorker.

In the wake of the success of her Ligeti and Scriabin recordings (Dynamic CDS 358 and CDS 416), both of which won the prestigious ”10” of Repertoire, the young Canadian pianist Lucille Chung now completes, with this second volume, all of Ligeti’s piano output, including the works written for two pianos and piano four hands, for which she has sought the collaboration of Alessio Bax.

The instrumental virtuosity of these pieces is pushed to the limit, and the manual - but also psychological and nervous - control required of the interpreter is quite extraordinary. Exemplary in this respect is the Etude No. 1, by the significant title of Désordre (Disorder), dedicated to Pierre Boulez, in which the uninterrupted rhythmic and metric asymmetry between right and left hand creates a strong sense of instability and anxiety.