Atmosphères

Probably Ligeti's most well known work, Atmosphères is, not surprisingly, an atmospheric work which evokes a sense of timelessness. It featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey for exactly this reason, it leaves the listener simply lost in the texture and tone, making the listener oblivious to the passage of time.

Normally, in an orchestra, you will have a large group of string players all playing the same notes. However, despite there being fifty-five string players in the orchestra, no two of them, at any point in the piece, play the same note. At points, there is a chord on the strings which encompasses every note of the chromatic scale over almost five octaves, a truly original and powerful technique, which while incredibly dissonant, has a luminous glow about it, taking musical expression to a new level.

I must stress that if you intend to listen to this piece, you must not form a negative view of it just because it is so dissonant. Sure, dissonance often sounds harsh and painful when heard in some tone colours, for example, on the piano. But when heard with the right timbre and at the right dynamic, dissonance, at almost any level, can be highly evocative and enjoyable to listen to.

There are four main elements in music. Melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre/tone colour. In this piece, Ligeti has chosen to abandon all but the latter. This creates a thickness of texture which is particularly effective in Ligeti's aim of providing an interesting and original work. Sure, there's no tune to hum and no rhythm to tap, but you'll find yourself simply entranced if you listen to this powerful work.