ReviewofGyorgi Ligeti's Danse Macarbei
Aaron Warner
This piece is a lesson in polytonality, dissonance, and
complexity. The
first thing heard is an imitation of a car horn that seems
designed to grab hold
of the listener. If I were inattentive before this piece, I
certainly was wide
awake when it was over. Ligeti seems to have sculpted a piece
together from bits
and pieces of other musical styles: a sort of modern-art approach
to music. The
violins tuning without a care in the first few moments, the slow
mock continuo
of the highly dissonant bassoon counterpoint, and the later high
pitch of a
clarinet all seem to be broad, bold strokes on a canvas of sound.
Ideas come
floating to the front of the imaginary "stage", and drop back
behind newer
themes.
The percussion also adds considerably to the complexity
of the piece in
the later minutes, stomping along without any respect for the
classical violin
or the clarinet's solo theme. A bird drops in, played by the
flute, taking the
focus away from the slowing, stomping band. Perhaps this is a bit
of editorial
from the composer himself on big-band music in general? The
marching band ushers
in the beginning of the end, gaining speed and volume. The
texture of the piece
grows with the addition of another instrument every few measures.
After a short
build, the threshold of noise is reached. All of the instruments
of the band and
orchestra are playing at their highest volume, playing solos of a
mixture of
styles, in a polyrhythmic soup of sound. The peak of this
amalgamation is
reached, and the slow, almost drunken marching band pulls us
away, towards the
end of the piece.
. instruments
of the band and
orchestra are playing at their highest volume, playing solos of a
mixture of
styles, in a polyrhythmic soup of sound. The peak of this
amalgamation. The
texture of the piece
grows with the addition of another instrument every few measures.
After a short
build, the threshold of noise is reached. All of the