Ligeti Études, Books 1-3; Capriccios Nos 1 & 2 Han Chen (piano) Naxos 8.574397 61:26 mins
Ligeti’s three books of Études (1985-2001), a peak of his creativity, appeared when the Hungarian-Transylvanian composer was disconnecting himself from the hardcore avant-gardism of his middle period. As a solo instrument, the piano had scarcely interested him during those years, but now he was reconsidering his aesthetic and revisiting musical history. Not quite the last manifestations in this genre (there’s also Philip Glass), they belong in a distinguished line of études stretching back via Debussy, Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Liszt to Chopin, himself building on the models of Paganini’s Caprices for violin and the more basic exercises of Clementi and others. Like Chopin, Ligeti mixes exhilarating energy and mesmerising beauty.
Any recording of these pieces is an achievement, but Han Chen’s new release isn’t quite breathtaking enough: though in command of the notes, he seldom makes these short pieces sound like the music brain-teasers they are, and the slightly boxy sound is little help. ‘Cordes à vide’ for instance lacks mystery, and ‘Galamb-Borong’ is hardly hypnotic.
Han Chen separates two of the books with the early Due capricci (1947), a reminder of Ligeti’s Bartókian musical inheritance.
John Allison