Atmosphères
Atmosphères is a piece for orchestra, composed by György Ligeti in 1961. It is noted for eschewing conventional melody and metre in favor of dense sound textures. After Apparitions, it was the second piece Ligeti wrote to exploit what he called a "micropolyphonic" texture. It gained further exposure after being used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
History[edit]
Atmosphères was commissioned in 1961 by the Southwest German Radio (SWF) and had its world premiere on 22 October 1961 by Hans Rosbaud conducting the SWF Symphony Orchestra at the Donaueschingen Festival.[1] Ligeti dedicated the piece to the memory of Mátyás Seiber, a fellow Hungarian-born composer who had been killed in a car crash the previous year. The SWF recorded this performance for broadcast, and this recording has been released commercially on CD several times. Paul Griffiths writes that this performance made Ligeti a "talking point".[2] Ligeti says that after this and his earlier piece Apparitions, he "became famous".[3]
Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York premiere in 1964 with the New York Philharmonic and recorded it with them at the Manhattan Center in New York on 6 January 1964 for Columbia Masterworks, reissued in 1968 on Columbia Records, and in 1999 on a Sony Classical CD.[4]
In 2001: A Space Odyssey[edit]
Stanley Kubrick chose this piece and others by Ligeti for the scenes in deep space and those with the monolith in his 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey because its quality of mystery was a good sonic realization of his vision.[24] This resulted in the exposure of Ligeti's music to a much wider audience. The recording of Atmosphères used in the soundtrack to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was with the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Bour.[25] Kubrick would go on to employ other Ligeti compositions in his films The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut.
According to program notes published by the San Francisco Symphony, Ligeti was not pleased that his music occurred in a film soundtrack shared by composers Johann and Richard Strauss.[26] Nevertheless, the piece has been performed in concert several times with other works featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, such as a 2010 performance by the Nashville Symphony, which performed it along with the full-length version of Richard Strauss' Thus Spake Zarathustra.[27]
Reworking[edit]
Belgian classical guitarist Tom Pauwels[32] wrote a reduced arrangement of Atmosphères for a small chamber orchestra of eight instruments, using a graphic score for clarinet, cello, accordion, guitar and laptop (sine tones) based on the Ligeti original.[33] It has been performed by Plus-minus ensemble, and posted by the ensemble as a video.[34]
In chronological order of recording, many of which have been released in different couplings.
Sources