''Atmosphères'' is a piece for orchestra, composed by

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

in 1961. It is noted for eschewing conventional

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

and

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

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

''Atmosphères'' was commissioned in 1961 by the Southwest German Radio (SWF) and had its world premiere on 22 October 1961 by

Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with their ...

conducting the SWF Symphony Orchestra at the

Donaueschingen Festival The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiva ...

. Ligeti dedicated the piece to the memory of

Mátyás Seiber Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...

, 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". Ligeti says that after this and his earlier piece ''Apparitions'', he "became famous".

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

conducted the New York premiere in 1964 with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

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.

Music

Instrumentation

''Atmosphères'' is scored for an orchestra with the following instrumentation.

Woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...

: 4

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(all double

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

) : 4

oboes The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

: 4

clarinets The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. ...

(4th also E clarinet) : 3

bassoons The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuos ...

: 1

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is consi ...

;

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

: 6

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

: 4

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

: 4

trombones The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

: 1

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

Keyboard instrument A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital piano ...

: 1

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(played by 2 percussionists)

Strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

: 14 first

violins The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

: 14 second violins : 10

violas ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

: 10

cellos The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...

: 8

double basses The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Simila ...

Style

''Atmosphères'' eschews conventional melody, harmony, and rhythm, in favor of "sound masses" with sliding and merging orchestral clusters that suggest

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...

is the central focus of the piece. It exemplifies Ligeti's notion of "static, self-contained music without either development or traditional rhythmic configurations." Harold Kaufman has written that Ligeti's music collapses foreground and background elements of musical structure into a "magma of evolving sound". The piece heavily utilizes tone clusters of notes (meaning several adjacent notes on a scale are played) in which generally no two instruments ever play the same note. The popular music edition ''All Music Guide'' describes the piece as having clusters of notes from which sections fall out, leaving "masses of natural notes". The piece features "shimmering rapid

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

, multiple high

glissandi In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...

, waves of string

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...

s in different

metres The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

, ndnotes moving along the same path but at different speeds". Program notes provided by Ensemble Sospeso describe ''Atmosphères'' as the "first major alternative to European

serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

: static masses of orchestral sound that give the simultaneous sense of immobility and motion." On the other hand, a close investigation of Ligeti's relationship to the Darmstadt avant-garde concludes that ''Atmosphères'' should "be seen as part of an evolution within the serial tradition and a response to problems articulated within it, rather than as a break from that tradition altogether". The

sound mass In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

es in ''Atmosphères'' are seen particularly to conform to the serial precepts of

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's "statistical form", as exemplified in ''

Gesang der Jünglinge ''Gesang der Jünglinge'' (literally "Song of the Youths") is an electronic music work by Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was realized in 1955–56 at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk studio in Cologne and is Work Number 8 in the composer's catalog. The voc ...

'' (1955–56) and ''

Gruppen ''Gruppen'' (german: Groups) for three orchestras (1955–57) is amongst the best-known compositions of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, and is Work Number 6 in the composer's catalog of works. ''Gruppen'' is "a landmark in 20th-century m ...

'' (1955–57).

Sense of timelessness

The piece evokes a sense of timelessness in which the listener is lost in a web of texture and tonality. Harald Kaufmann has described it as "acoustically standing still", a stationary sound that has movement within it that is similar to breathing. The classical music edition of ''All Music Guide'' says the music "scarcely hints at forward movement. Rather the listener hears an all but motionless series of sound evolutions unfolding at various moments". According to Peter Laki:

Larry Sitsky Lazar "Larry" Sitsky (born 10 September 1934) is an Australian composer, pianist, and music educator and scholar. His long term legacy is still to be assessed, but through his work to date he has made a significant contribution to the Austra ...

has written that in Ligeti's music "the density of the successive structures is such that the conventional parameters through which musical form (melody, rhythm, harmony) is traditionally perceived appear to have been evacuated. Consequently, these evolving sound structures seem stationary, as if detached from the passage of time. To paraphrase the composer himself, the micropolyphonic textures tend to hang like a mighty oriental tapestry, suspended outside time." Likewise, Thomas May states that in his breakthrough orchestral pieces ''Apparitions'' and ''Atmosphères'' Ligeti's "new musical point of view... looked beyond the traditional basic elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm, immobilizing these in favor of the mass and texture of sound itself. Gigantic clusters of chords hover in a stasis that negates familiar signposts of harmony and pulse. This dense sound-fog became known as the signature Ligeti style".

Ligeti's musical theory

In an essay titled "Metamorphoses of Musical Form", Ligeti developed the concept of musical "permeability" according to which a musical structure is "permeable" if it allows a free choice of intervals and "impermeable" if not. Ligeti here considers

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pren ...

's music as having "perhaps the lowest degree of permeability" because its handling of

consonance and dissonance In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

was the most sensitively defined of all historical styles. Ligeti saw permeability and impermeability of groups, structures, and textures in serial music as substitutes for the form-shaping function of melodic lines, motifs, and harmonies in older styles. Some textures could be layered and juxtaposed; some musical structures will mix with others seamlessly, while other structures will stand out. ''Atmospheres'' exemplifies much of Ligeti's theory suspending harmony in favor of sustained sounds. The piece opens with a "fully

chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study t ...

covering more than five

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s, held by

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

and soft

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...

", out of which various groups of instruments drop out successively, followed by various "strands of sonic fabric" reenter the composition, first white notes then

black notes A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. ...

along with shifts in timbre and duration of notes that drive the piece forward. Consequently, Griffiths writes, "the whole piece is a study in what Ligeti's essay had called the 'permeability' of musical structures, how some will mix with a great many others, some stand always apart; it is also a demonstration of what can be achieved when all the usual regulators, being so finely tuned at the time by other composers, are left open." Ligeti noted that ''Atmosphères'' had a

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

structure, but one organized by his own rules. The polyphonic structure, he stated, cannot be heard by the listener, but remains "underwater", hidden from the listener. Ligeti coined the term "

micropolyphony Micropolyphony is a kind of polyphonic musical texture developed by György Ligeti which consists of many lines of dense canons moving at different tempos or rhythms, thus resulting in tone clusters vertically. According to David Cope, "micropoly ...

" to describe this texture.

In ''2001: A Space Odyssey''

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

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. This resulted in the exposure of Ligeti's music to a much wider audience. The recording of ''Atmosphères'' used in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the film ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' was with the

Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known in English as the SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra and in German as the Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks) was a German radio orchestra located in the German cities of Bad ...

conducted by

Ernest Bour Ernest Bour (20 April 1913 - 20 June 2001) was a noted conductor. Born in Thionville, Moselle (in north-eastern Lorraine, then part of Germany), Bour studied at both the University and the Conservatoire of Strasbourg. His conducting teachers incl ...

. Kubrick would go on to employ other Ligeti compositions in his films '' The Shining'' and ''

Eyes Wide Shut ''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella '' Traumnovelle'' (''Dream Story'') by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's sett ...

''. According to program notes published by the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

, Ligeti was not pleased that his music occurred in a film soundtrack shared by composers

Johann Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

and

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

. 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 The Nashville Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in Nashville, Tennessee. The orchestra is resident at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. History In 1920, prior to the 1946 founding of the Nashville Symphony, a group of amateur and ...

, which performed it along with the full-length version of Richard Strauss' ''

Thus Spake Zarathustra ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher Friedrich Niet ...

''.

Notable recent performances

A 2006 performance of ''Atmosphères'' by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

was noted for its direct transition without interruption into

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

's ''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'', which ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' music critic Hugh Canning described as a "stroke of programming genius", continuing:

Edward Seckerson Edward Seckerson is a British music journalist and radio presenter specialising in musical theatre. Formerly Chief Classical Music Critic of the Independent, Edward Seckerson is a writer, broadcaster and podcaster. He wrote and presented the lon ...

of UK's ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' also described this segue as a "startling coup" while Richard Morrison of the daily edition of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' noted that "Jurowski even kept a beat going, to fool us ... so that Stravinsky's bassoon emerged out of Ligeti's wispy, endlessly drifting clouds of clusters." Another recently acclaimed performance was that by Austria's

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO) is a youth orchestra based in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1986 by conductor Claudio Abbado, and named after Gustav Mahler. It is an associated member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras. ...

(Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra) performing in England, a performance described as "a focused reading" in which the conductor "Nott duly coerced a delicacy from each section of the orchestra—particularly the centrifugal strings—that gave a wonderful smoothness to the performance".

Reworking

Belgian classical guitarist Tom Pauwels wrote a reduced arrangement of ''Atmosphères'' for a small chamber orchestra of eight instruments, using a

graphic score Graphic notation (or graphic score) is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic notation became popular in the 1950s, and can be used either in combination with or instea ...

for clarinet, cello, accordion, guitar and laptop (sine tones) based on the Ligeti original. It has been performed by

Plus-minus ensemble {{no footnotes, date=April 2018 Plus Minus is a music group that formed in 2003 specializing in contemporary classical music. Plus Minus's programming features a mixture of avant-garde and experimental traditions, focussing particularly on open-in ...

, and posted by the ensemble as a video.

Discography

In chronological order of recording, many of which have been released in different couplings. * SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, conducted by Hans Rosbaud ecording of the world premiere in Donaueschingen on 22 October 1961">Donaueschingen.html" ;"title="ecording of the world premiere in Donaueschingen">ecording of the world premiere in Donaueschingen on 22 October 1961**1990. ''40 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1950–1990''. Col Legno AU-031800 CD. 4-CD set + 1 booklet. Munich: Col Legno Musikproduction; Staufen im Breisgau: Aurophon. (With music by Hartmann, Boulez, Nono, Xenakis, Penderecki, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Zimmermann, Holliger, Lachenmann, Raseghi, Messiaen, Carter, Rihm, and Kalitzke.) **1996. ''75 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1921–1996'': CD 9. Col Legno WWE 12CD 31899 (12-CD set); Col Legno WWE 1CD 31908 (single CD number). Munich: Col Legno Musikproduction; Staufen im Breisgau: Aurophon. **2000. ''Musiktage Donaueschingen: Uraufführungen 1955–1989''. Musik in Deutschland 1950–2000; Konzertmusik; Musik für Orchester; Sinfonische Musik; Porträt. RCA Red Seal/BMG 74321-73510. 1 CD, 12 cm. + booklet. [Munich]: BMG Classics. [Note: booklet misidentifies the conductor as Ernest Bour] (With music by Xenakis, Penderecki, Messiaen, Holliger, Lachenmann, and Rihm.) * New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein ecorded in New York City at the Manhattan Center 6 January 1964**1965. ''Leonard Bernstein Conducts Music of Our Time''. Columbia Masterworks/CBS MS 6733 (stereo). LP recording, 1 sound disc, 33 rpm, 12 in. New York: CBS Records. (With music by Morton Feldman, Larry Austin, and four improvisations by the New York Philharmonic. Program notes by Edward Downes on the jacket.) **1968. ''Music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Suite from Aniara''. Columbia Masterworks/CBS MS 7176 (stereo). LP recording, 1 sound disc, 33 rpm, 12 in. New York: CBS Records. **1999. ''Music of Our Time''. Sony Classical SMK 61845. 1-CD. New York: Sony Music Entertainment. (With music by Morton Feldman, Edison Denisov, Gunther Schuller, Olivier Messiaen, and four improvisations by the New York Philharmonic. Program notes by Tim Page in English with German and French translations inserted in container.) * Sinfonie-orchester des Südwestfunks, Baden-Baden, cond. Ernest Bour ecorded April 1966**

966 Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine ...

''György Ligeti: Atmospheres (1961) für grosses Orchester und Schlagzeug. Continuum für Cembalo solo''. Wergo Taschen-Diskothek Neuer Musik. Wergo WER 305. LP recording, 2 sides, 7 inch, 33 rpm, stereo. Baden-Baden: Wergo Schallplattenverlag, GmbH. **1966. ''György Ligeti: Aventures (1962), Nouvelles aventures (1966): für 3 Sänger und 7 Instrumentalisten, Atmosphères, Volumina für Orgel''. Studio-Reihe neuer Musik. Wergo WER 60 022. LP recording, 1 disc, 33 rpm. stereo, 12 in. Baden-Baden: Wergo Schallplattenverlag, GmbH. **1968. ''2001, A Space Odyssey: Music from the Motion Picture Sound Track''. LP recording, 1 sound disc, 33 rpm, stereo, 12 in. MGM 1SE 13 ST. ew York MGM. **1970. ''György Ligeti: Aventures (1962); Nouvelles aventures (1962–65); Atmosphères; Volumina (1961–62, 1st version)''. Heliodor. (Program notes by the composer and others on container and on leaf inserted in container.) **1988. ''György Ligeti: Kammerkonzert für 13 Instrumentalisten; Ramifications für Streichorchester; Ramifications für 12 Solostreicher; Lux aeterna; Atmosphères''. Wergo WER 60162-50. Compact disc, 1 sound disc, 4 in. Mainz: Wergo. (Program notes by the composer and others in German with English and French translations inserted in container.) **

990s The 990s decade ran from January 1, 990, to December 31, 999. Significant people * Al-Qadir * Mahmud of Ghazni * Pope John XV Pope John XV ( la, Ioannes XV; died on 1 April 996) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from Aug ...

''2001: A Space Odyssey—Original Soundtrack''. Polydor/PolyGram 831 068. Compact disc, 1 sound disc: digital, stereo., 4 in. Hamburg: Polydor. **1996. ''2001: A Space Odyssey—Original Soundtrack''. Rhino/Atlantic 72562. Compact Disc. 1 sound disc, stereo, 4 in. **2000. ''Musik in Deutschland 1950–2000: Konzertmusik, Musik für Orchester, Sinfonische Musik, Porträt''. RCA Red Seal/BMG Classics 74321-73508; 74321 73509; 74321 73510; 74321 73511; 74321 73512; 74321 73513; 74321 73656. Compact disc 6 sound discs, stereo, 4 in. ermany BMG Classics:

Deutscher Musikrat The Deutscher Musikrat (DMR, ''German Music Council''; ) is an umbrella organization for music associations and the 16 music councils of the German federal states.musikrat.deÜberblick über Organisationsstruktur des DMR(retrieved on 10 May 2019) ...

; .p. RCA Red Seal. *Yomiuri Nihon Kokyo Gakudan, cond. Seiji Ozawa rogramme recorded live at Tokyo's Nissei Theatre on May 1, 2, and 4, 1966**1967. ''Orchestra Space at Nissei Theatre, 1966'', vol. 2. Victor SJV 1513. 1 LP sound disc : analog, 33 rpm, stereo. ; 12 in.

apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km². Overview As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was an important site in the Wa ...

Victor. **1978. ''Orchestral Space''. Varese Sarabande/MCA VS-81060. LP recording, 1 disc, 33 rpm, stereo, 12 in. os Angeles Varese Sarabande. Reissued in 1986 on CD, Varèse Sarabande/MCA VSD-47253. *

Wiener Philharmoniker The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

, cond.

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

ecorded live, Vienna, Musikverein, Grosser Saal, October 1988">Musikverein.html" ;"title="ecorded live, Vienna, Musikverein">ecorded live, Vienna, Musikverein, Grosser Saal, October 1988**1990. ''Wien Modern''. Deutsche Grammophon/PolyGram 429 260. 1 CD sound disc, digital, stereo, 4 in. Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon. **2006. ''György Ligeti: Clear or Cloudy''. Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics 477 6443-477 6447. Compact disc 4 sound discs, digital, stereo, 4 in. Hamburg: Deutsche Grammophon. * Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, cond. John Mauceri [recorded in Hollywood, California: July 11, September 20 & 22, 1994] **1995. ''Journey to the Stars: A Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure''. Philips/PolyGram 446 403. [N.p]: Philips; New York: PolyGram Classics. (With music by

Karl-Birger Blomdahl Karl-Birger Blomdahl (19 October 1916 – 14 June 1968) was a Swedish composer and conductor born in Växjö. He was educated in biochemistry, but was primarily active in music and by his experimental compositions he became one of the big names ...

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the Rambo (franchise) ...

Bebe and Louis Barron Bebe Barron ( – ) and Louis Barron ( – ) were two American pioneers in the field of electronic music. They are credited with writing the first electronic music for magnetic tape composed in the United States, and the first entirely elec ...

Franz Waxman Franz Waxman (né Wachsmann; December 24, 1906February 24, 1967) was a German-born composer and conductor of Jewish descent, known primarily for his work in the film music genre. His film scores include ''Bride of Frankenstein'', '' Rebecca'', ...

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...

Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), ''Viva Zapata!'', ''Spa ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

, and

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

.) *

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

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Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

ecorded 1996**2005. ''Leaving Home – Music In The 20th Century: A Conducted Tour by Sir Simon Rattle and The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra'', vol. 2: Rhythm. Arthaus Musik 102035. DVD video recording, 4 in., region 0 (worldwide). Also available as part of a 7-DVD set, Arthaus Musik 102 073. Leipzig: Arthaus Musik GmbH. (Excerpts from ''Atmosphères'', as well as from music by Stravinsky, Varèse, Reich, Boulez, Messiaen, Mahler, and Nancarrow.) * Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg, cond. Thomas Kalb ecorded late 1990s **1999. ''Nacht der Planeten'', vol. 1. Hoepfner Classics. Antes Edition BM-CD 31.9131. Compact disc, 1 sound disc, digital, stereo, 4 in. Bühl: Bella Musica Edition. (With music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Alexander Raskatov.) * Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Jonathan Nott ecorded Berlin, Philharmonie, 13–16 December 2001**2002. ''The Ligeti Project II''. (With: Ligeti, Lontano, San Francisco Polyphony, Apparitions, and Concert românesc.). Teldec/Warner Classics 8573-88261. Compact disc recording. Hamburg: Teldec Classics **2008. Reissued as disc 2 of ''The Ligeti Project: Atmosphères, Chamber Concerto, Etc''. 5-CDs. Teldec/Warner Classics 510998; Warner Classics 2564 69673-5. Hamburg: Teldec Classics.; nited Kingdom Warner Classics. *

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish: ''Radion sinfoniaorkesteri'', Swedish: ''Radions symfoniorkester'') is a Finnish broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The orchestra prima ...

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Hannu Lintu Hannu Petteri Lintu (born 13 October 1967) is a Finnish conductor. Biography Lintu was born in Rauma. He studied piano and cello at the Turku Conservatory and at the Sibelius Academy. He also studied conducting with Atso Almila, and later with ...

ecorded Helsinki, Musiikkitalo, 29–31 August 2012**2013. ''György Ligeti''. (With: Lontano, Violin Concerto (soloist Benjamin Schmid), Atmosphères, San Francisco Polyphony). Ondine ODE 1213-2. Compact disc recording. Ondine Oy.

References

Sources * * * * *

External links

* Hufner, Martin. 1999.
György Ligeti: ''Atmosphères'' für großes Orchester: Sensationen in der Luft
. ''kritische musik.de'' (Accessed 21 February 2010) * , Alan Gilbert,

Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra, affiliated with Radio France. The orchestra performs principally at the auditorium of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, along with several concerts at the Philharmonie de Pa ...

(2019)
Video including portions of ''Atmosphères'' played backwards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atmospheres Compositions by György Ligeti 1961 compositions

History

Music

Instrumentation

Style

Sense of timelessness

Ligeti's musical theory

In ''2001: A Space Odyssey''

Notable recent performances

Reworking

Discography

References

Further reading

External links