Ligeti 100: Pierre-Laurent Aimard in Recital

Ligeti was one of the most powerful and original voices to emerge from the era of musical modernism. He rejected the prevailing dogmas of the 1960s and 70s, remaining fiercely free-thinking. As the decades passed, he absorbed eclectic influences from around the world into his own style, which has been termed ‘unclassifiable’ by The Guardian. His piano music is by turns playful, brilliant and demoniac; the 18 Etudes are contemporary classics, making extraordinary virtuoso demands upon pianists’ techniques. Ligeti named Aimard his preferred performer and dedicated two of the Etudes to him. Aimard opens with the early Chromatische Phantasie, one of the last works Ligeti wrote before fleeing Hungary after the 1956 Revolution. Next he tackles the idiosyncratic miniatures of Musica Ricercata. The concert concludes with a selection of the Etudes.