Programme note: On a Devil's Staircase
[CONCEPT] On a Devil’s Staircase is the third part of the Ligeti tetralogy started by Festival 20·21 two years ago by artist in residence Brecht Valckenaers. Previous concerts were focused on Ligeti’s early Musica Ricercataand his works for two pianos. Part three will focus completely on the Hungarian composer’s ground-breaking etudes. These pieces have acquired a central place not only in his own oeuvre but in the whole of 20th-century piano music. Valckenaers is continuing his tried-and-true formula of linking the main work with other compositions. He will add excerpts from Morton Feldman’s Palais de Mari to provide some counterweight to the often-spectacular Ligeti pieces; Valckenaers also goes directly into dialogue with these etudes.
[LIGETI ETUDES] Ligeti’s Etudes, eighteen in total, were published in three separate volumes between 1985 and 2001. In spirit, they join the long tradition of compositions in which composers pose a central technical idea or problem, then build a complete composition around it. The point of departure with Ligeti is often the organisation of time. This produces quite a few etudes in which he works with complex rhythms and metres, even stacking multiple rhythmic and/or metric layers. Ligeti is also clearly fascinated by ‘acoustic illusions’: for example, how to write a work that seems to keep going ‘higher’ or faster, even when this is not the case. Frequently the composer also sets some mechanical process in motion, then begins to destabilise it using small interventions. Most of Ligeti’s etudes are virtuoso and demanding, with the focus shifting to pure sound exploration now and then. One prime example of this is White on White (at least the first movement), with which Brecht Valckenaers will both begin and end his recital.
[FELDMAN'S PALAIS DE MARI] Brecht Valckenaers will play in total 13,5 studies by Ligeti, spread over three larger blocks. Between these blocks, he places two episodes from the Palais de Mari, a piano work by the American minimalist Morton Feldman. The contrast between Feldman’s and Ligeti’s music could not be greater. Usually time seems to stand still. In an apparently infinite universe, Feldman makes sounds emerge and fade away. Elements are frequently repeated, without creating the impression that a process is arising. The work as a whole is more like an elaborately crafted standstill. It’s like looking at the ocean on a windless day: there may be continuous tiny movements on the surface, but the overall impression is of a sense of sheer immobility.
[PREMIERES] When Brecht Valckenaers came up with the idea of the Ex Nihilo programme two years ago, he composed a few rhythmic etudes in the same vein himself. They were intended to give the whole concept even more continuity and substance, while being strong enough to function as stand-alone compositions. Along the same lines, Valckenaers has also written several new pieces for this programme. His underlying ambition is to have completed a cycle of twelve rhythmic studies by the end of his festival residency, in 2027, which will also secure him a place in the etude tradition alongside other greats such as Chopin, Liszt and Debussy.
Pieter Bergé