György Ligeti’s Atmosphères

Ligeti, an Austrian composer and performer, began the electronically based musical piece Atmosphères in 1961 with the guidance of Stockhausen and Koenig at the West German Radio studio.  The piece contains but only one percussion instrument, a piano that is not played in its normal configuration; instead, the strings are directly manipulated producing sustained, textured sounds.

The entirety of Atmosphères is atonal and never completely settling to the ears.  There are portions of the piece that are much more calm and soothing than portions of the introduction, that attempt to lash out and grab your attention before quickly ending, releasing you, but even these portions are still teeming with motion and frenzy.  In the mind’s eye one can even almost imagine some type of science fiction scene from a movie playing out with this piece as its background accompaniment.  As the piece continues, it follows a wave like pattern of gaining and losing both sound level and complexity and concludes with sounds reminiscent of nothing more than white noise.

György Ligeti was born in Transylvania, Romania on May 28, 1923 and lived in Hungary during his early life before becoming an Austrian citizen.  While he lived in Hungary much of Ligeti’s early work focused around folk and chorus music until he began to create his own style of composition.  Many of the pieces that Ligeti began to create as he discovered this style were greatly censored by the Soviet government and he soon fled to Vienna, Austria.  His composition style then turned from classical to heavily electronic influenced.  After a few attempts at this form Ligeti returned to more instrumental music, but retained the style of his electronic stage.  He went on to write several vocal solos and choruses and an opera.  The remainder of Ligeti’s work before his death in 2006 was based on rhythmic complexity and overlapping rhythms and melodies.  Throughout his career Ligeti was recognized for his work with numerous awards and honorary memberships.

Atmosphères, was not only one of only four truly electronic pieces created by Ligeti, but it has been highlighted in popular cinematography such as “2001: Space Odyssey,” “2010,” and “The Shining.”