We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

LEBRECHT LISTENS | Ligeti Floats Like Butterflies With Danish National Vocal Ensemble

By Norman Lebrecht on March 18, 2022

Photo courtesy of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Photo courtesy of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble

Ligeti and Kodaly: Lux Aeterna (OUR Recordings)

★★★★☆

🎧  Spotify | Amazon | Apple Music

One should never let too much time pass without hearing some Ligeti. The Hungarian has such an ethereal turn of the ear that any chorus he writes becomes instantly disembodied, the human voices floating like butterflies at the edge of consciousness.

He is best known for Lux Aeterna, which Staley Kubrick purloined for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It receives an exemplary liftoff here from the Danish National Vocal Ensemble (conductor Marcus Creed), opening up uncharted worlds of imagination. Other Ligeti songs, some folk-based, others atonal, are delivered with comparable immersion in a soundworld like no other.

The fillers on the disc are by Zoltan Kodaly, a Hungarian folklorist and pedagogue. They sound almost absurdly naïve beside Ligeti’s untrammelled ideas, but they do help bring us back to earth.

To read more from Norman Lebrecht, subscribe to Slippedisc.com.

#LUDWIGVAN

Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.

Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily — classical music and opera in five minutes or less HERE.

Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2024 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer