Musica ricercata

Eleven pieces for solo piano composed 1951–1953 in Budapest, when Ligeti was lecturing at the Franz Liszt Academy and working secretly against the constraints of Soviet-mandated socialist realism. The work's central constructive idea is radical: each successive piece is permitted exactly one more pitch class than the last, beginning with just two pitches (A and D) in the first piece and arriving at all twelve chromatic pitches in the final fugue. This self-imposed restriction forces extreme invention in the domains of rhythm, texture, and affect. The final movement (XI) is headed \"Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi\" and is a twelve-tone fugue; the ninth (IX) bears the inscription \"Béla Bartók in memoriam.\" The second piece was used on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Ligeti arranged six movements (III, V, VII, VIII, IX, X) as the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet (1953). The piano version premiered in Sundsvall, Sweden on 18 November 1969, fifteen years after composition. Published by Schott Music in 1995. NOTE: Non-public domain. Publisher: Schott Music. Not available on IMSLP.