The Southbank Centre’s Ligeti 100 day formed an extensive centenary tribute, nine hours long, that surveyed the Hungarian composer’s life, music and legacy with a series of concerts, discussions and lectures. It began with a lunchtime recital by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, György Ligeti’s interpreter of choice for his own piano music, and closed with a Sinfonietta concert conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, for which Aimard returned to play the Piano Concerto. In between came an informal sequence of events in the QEH foyer, among them a talk by Ligeti’s biographer Richard Steinitz, and a fascinating interview in which Aimard spoke with conductor Jonathan Berman about working with Ligeti and playing his music.
There were also performances in the foyer. The space proved less than ideal for Ramifications, a study in microtonal harmony for two groups of instrumentalists tuned a quarter tone apart: students from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance joined a handful of Sinfonietta players and conductor Timothy Lines, but far too much detail was swallowed by the deadening acoustic. Later came the notorious polyrhythmic game of Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes, an audience participation exercise this time - people could apply to set a few metronomes in motion themselves when they bought their tickets. It was great fun, though one rogue metronome maddeningly tick-tocked away for 20 minutes after the rest had stopped.
