Three centuries separate Domenico Scarlatti and György Ligeti. Nevertheless, these composers have more in common than we would ever imagine. Both virtuoso musicians sought the limits of what is possible on a keyboard instrument. Both radical innovators astonished their audiences time and time again. And they wrote music with remarkable musical similarities. In the 1950s, Ligeti was working in communist Hungary. The regime censored his more adventurous work, so Ligeti slipped under the radar. In Musica Ricercata, for example: eleven pieces that defined his personal style. The first piece uses just one pitch class: each of the following adds one more until the chromatic series is complete. It is a masterclass in what can be done with a minimum of material. Ligeti uses every trick in the book, from ornamentation to rhythmic variation to creative use of the pedals. For a dialogue with Scarlatti’s most gorgeous sonatas, Olga Pashchenko alternates between the harpsichord and piano: three hundred years of genius in one breathtaking flow.
Program
D. Scarlatti: selection of sonatas | G. Ligeti: Musica Ricercata, Hungarian Rock and other pieces
Performers
Olga Pashchenko, harpsichord & piano