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An illuminating study of the life and work of Gyoergy Ligeti, one
of the best-loved and most original composers of our time. For 50
years Gyoergy Ligeti has pursued a boldly independent and
uncompromising course, yet his music is widely loved and admired.
Ever since Stanley Kubrick's (unsanctioned) use of his music on the
soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey, interest in Ligeti has
extended far beyond the classical domain. He is the only living
composer whose complete output, including juvenilia, is being
systematically issued on CD. Published to coincide with the
composer's eightieth birthday, Richard Steinitz's compelling new
book is both an illuminating study of the music and its associative
ideas - drawn from literature, theatre, the visual arts, fractal
mathematics, ethnic cultures and other maverick composers - and of
Ligeti the man. Ligeti has confided in Steinitz a mass of
previously unknown biographical information. The result is an
astonishing account of his early upbringing in Romania, of his
terrifying yet surreal experiences in the war, and of his
difficulties attempting to forge an identity as a young composer
under repressive censorship in Communist Hungary, before his
dramatic escape to the West in 1956. The story continues via
Ligeti's association with the Western avant-garde and his
increasingly masterful sequence of highly individual compositions,
which Steinitz brings vividly to life through informative
commentaries as well as through the composer's own words.
Explosions in November tells the story of one of Europes leading
cultural institutions, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
(hcmf), through the eyes of its founder and former artistic
director, Professor Richard Steinitz. From its modest beginnings in
1978, when winter fog nearly sabotaged the inaugural programme, to
todays internationally renowned event, hcmf has been a pioneering
champion of the best in contemporary music.Now Richard Steinitz
brings his insider view on the people behind the festival and how
they made each year a success. He recalls his encounters with some
true giants of music, including Boulez, Berio, Cage, Ligeti,
Stockhausen and Xenakis. Discover how the author survived
mushroom-hunting with John Cage, how the festival engineered a
historic reconciliation between Cage and Pierre Boulez and how a
ceiling fitting nearly brought Stockhausens career to a premature
end. It is a compelling, inspiring and often entertaining story.
Explosions in November reveals the full picture of a festival that
continues to surprise, delight and provoke its audiences to this
day.
MURDER OVER THE BORDER is a mystery set in the context of the
Middle East Peace Process. The hero, Yossi Abulafia, is an Israeli
policeman on army reserve duty near the Jordanian border. Instead
of watching the border, he is taking photographs of antelope when
the observation post he is sitting in collapses and he is seriously
injured. During the accident, he unwittingly takes a photograph of
what appears to be a murder -- on the other side of the border with
Jordan. As a result of his accident, he is transferred to a boring
desk job. He uses his connections to try and investigate what
happened on the other side of the river. In the course of his new
job, he travels to Amsterdam for a conference where he meets Aziz
-- a Jordanian police officer. During the few days they are
together, the two men become friends, but are attacked twice by an
unknown assailant - the 'shooter'. The first attack passes without
any damage, but the second is far more serious. Both men are shot,
Yossi loses consciousness and is returned to Israel. As a result of
his disabilities from the second accident, Abulafia is discharged
from the police force against his will. He is semi-crippled, walks
with difficulty and the aid of a cane. His close friend Yehiel, a
lawyer and now special advisor to the Prime Minister, offers Yossi
a job. Yehiel is in charge of the secret negotiations being
conducted with the Palestinians in Oslo. Yossi, who is not
enthusiastic about the idea of talking to the PLO, becomes his
general factotum and police liaison. For the full story, buy the
book
One of the world's best known living composers, Gyoergy Sandor
Ligeti is widely acknowledged as the most influential and admired
creative figure of the late twentieth century. His brilliantly
conceived and challenging pieces, searingly intense at times and
full of humor and irony at others, include the orchestral
Apparitions and Atmospheres, piano etudes, the opera Le Grand
Macabre, and the unaccompanied choral work Lux aeterna, which
Stanly Kubrick actually pirated for the film soundtrack of 2001: A
Space Odyssey.
In this book, Richard Steinitz fuses biographical, stylistic, and
technical analysis to examine thoroughly the evolution of Ligeti's
innovative music. Drawing extensively on his own private
conversations with the composer as well as on many published and
recorded interviews, Steinitz places Ligeti's extraordinary body of
work within the context of his complex personal life.
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