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György Ligeti – Musica Ricercata

Question: How is interest created in this work?

Musical interest is created through extreme, unexpected contrast across many elements of music:

• Between upper and lower register extremes – disparity, distance.

• Sudden use of silence contrasting with held notes

• Sudden abrupt attack interrupts the silence. Low, barely audible low notes

• Syncopated rhythm with unexpected accents over continuous ostinato creates a sense of moving forward racing the pulse.

• Simultaneous use of lowest and upper most register of the piano contributes to extreme range across pitch spectrum.

• Extremes of the piano creates highly clashing tone colours. Growling, murky in low register, piercing and shrill in the upper register.

• Tone colour of notes is contrasted by playing at different registers.

• Brittle shrill TC at high register. Smashing technique – strong attack in the low register creates a growling tone colour

• Musical interest created at the climax of the piece through a high point in dynamics and texture – piano playing at both extremes of register.

• Gradual increase in dynamics leads to fortissimo dynamics which is contrasted by use of silence to create musical interest.

• Use of the same note is contrasted by using different rhythms, registers, dynamics, articulation to create interest.

• Use of increasingly large range. Climax at the end of the piece uses extremes of upper and lower range.