GYORGY LIGETI: CHAMBER CONCERTO; RAMIFICATIONS; AVENTURES; NOUVELLES...

GYORGY LIGETI: CHAMBER CONCERTO; RAMIFICATIONS; AVENTURES; NOUVELLES AVENTURES. Ensemble Intercomtemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez. Deutsche Grammophon 410 651-1. Ligeti, whose reputation soared with Stanley Kubrick’s permissionless use of “Atmospheres” and “Lux Aeterna” in the film “2001,” has continued to prove that his otherworldly scores can entrance the serious avant-gardist and the curious music-lover alike. This release of Boulez’s rendition of Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, performed by Boulez’s hand-picked Ensemble Intercomtemporain, confirms the special place in contemporary music the Polish composer has carved out for himself. While the vocal gibberish that fills Side 2 of this disc seems no more than ear-stretching exercises, the Concerto itself, laid out like an old-fashioned symphony in four movements, is finely controlled and continuously thoughtful music. Ligeti’s love of shimmering sound-colors is here enhanced by wisps of melody, lovely little strands that swim freely in Ligeti’s iridescent seas.