''Ramifications'' is a composition for strings by Hungarian composer

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 music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

. It was finished in 1968 and premiered in 1969.

Composition and premiere

The composition is dedicated to

Serge Koussevitzky Serge Koussevitzky (born Sergey Aleksandrovich Kusevitsky;Koussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his sig ...

and his wife, Natalia Koussevitzky and is meant to be a gift for the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. The first version, for

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...

, was premiered in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on April 23, 1969. Michael Gielen conducted the

Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German Radio orchestra, broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra performs its concerts principally in the Philharmonie Berlin. The orchestra is administratively based at the ''Rundfun ...

on this occasion. The version for 12 soloists was premiered a few months later, on October 10, 1969, in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, with the Kammerorchester des Saarländischen Rundfunks under the baton of Antonio Janigro.

Analysis

The piece is in one movement, and takes approximately eight minutes to perform. It is scored for an ensemble of 12 strings, split into two groups: Group I comprises four

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s, one

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, and one

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

; and Group II comprises three violins, one viola, one cello, and one

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. Moreover, Group I is tuned a

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

higher (approximately A=453) than Group II, which is in standard tuning. In addition, conventional barring is used merely for synchronization and does not function as a metric indicator. Accordingly, no stresses are made when performing the piece, and the piece is meant to be performed fluently and without discernible rhythm. The composition aims to sound as a heterogeneous, amorphous texture in which the two groups try to retune each other. Ligeti's intention was not to create

microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

music, but to create "mistuned music" instead. The performers are seated near to each other, so that the audience can listen to the music as if it is coming from only one source. The composition is presented in two different versions: one for 12 soloists and one for a string orchestra. For the orchestra version, it is recommended that the instruments are distributed in a balanced manner. Only the orchestra version makes distinctions when performing tutti and solo parts. However, Ligeti himself preferred the version for soloists.

Notable recordings

Following are some of the most well-known recordings of this piece:

References

External links

A preview of the score
{{Authority control Compositions by György Ligeti 1968 compositions Contemporary classical compositions Music with dedications Compositions for duodecet