Gy�rgy Ligeti's "Requiem" for soprano, mezzo-soprano, two mixed choirs and orchestra is one of his most impressive compositions - especially, when directed by Michael Gielen - and at the same time "the" requiem of the 20th century: Sound which is chromatically layered moves gradually from the lower registers to the higher, thus changing from mourning sounds into the promise of the eternal light. In the Kyrie the polyphonic net which was previously static begins to move gently. It was a part of this composition that Stanley Kubrick used to accompany the discovery of the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Also on this WERGO disc are two other essential works, "Aventures" and "Nouvelles Aventures", highly theatrical and justly celebrated choral works.

In 1985 György Ligeti produced an entire volume of piano etudes, to which he added two further volumes in the following sixteen years. Quite a few people in New Music circles then reacted with a lack of appreciation and understanding: Whereas the lively piano etude tradition of the 19th century - inextricably linked with Czerny, Chopin or Liszt - was continued by Bartók, Debussy or Stravinsky at the beginning of the 20th century, this tradition no longer existed by the end of the 20th century. The etude appeared to be a relic from another time. Ligeti had various reasons for these compositions: He was concerned to revive a great musical tradition and to explore its potential in a contemporary form. Furthermore he liked to play the piano himself, although with "inadequate pianistic technique", as he once remarked. Apparently, it was sufficient to create some of the most difficult works for piano in the entire piano repertoire: "The anatomical situation of my hands and the configuration of the piano keyboard determined the products of my imagination." His piano etudes have also to be seen in the context of his admiration for the great piano literature from Bach to Debussy. Furthermore they are exercises in polyphonic writing and playing technique, with polyphony here having to be understood in a considerably expanded sense. For Ligeti's piano writing is not only polyphonic in the customary sense, but also polyrhythmic, poly-temporal, and even poly-ethnic (he uses material from very different European and non-European musical cultures - from the Balkans via Africa to Asia). In the end, his piano etudes are considerably more than mere technical exercises. Each piece is at the same time a poetic miracle, transcending its given musical and technical tasks.

Sony Classical proudly announces an uncommonly attractive new batch of reissues from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG back catalogues. This latest installment of the popular series showcases the reissue of a path-breaking composer edition as well as recordings by some of the labels’ greatest artists of the last half century. Included in this batch are nine albums dedicated to one of the indisputable geniuses of modern music.

Sony Classical’s landmark “Ligeti Edition”, recorded under the great Hungarian composer’s supervision and first released on single albums in 1996, will now be available internationally in a complete set. This famous project needs little additional commentary. Fanfare called it “a must for any collector or interested listener”. Enough to say that it features such authoritative interpreters of the composer’s endlessly fascinating works as Pierre-Laurent Aimard playing the staggeringly difficult and beautiful Études and other piano works, the Arditti Quartet giving benchmark readings of the String Quartets and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the orchestral works and the definitive recording of Ligeti’s operatic masterpiece Le Grand Macabre, which Gramophone called “the key opera of the end of the twentieth century”. Salonen’s ideally cast recording of the final revised version, sung in English, “is the one to have – Ligeti’s revisions are all improvements, and the performance is a fine one” (Gramophone).

CD 1 · String Quartets & Duets
String Quartet No. 1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes”
String Quartet No. 2 · Hommage à Hilding Rosenberg
Balada˘ ¸si joc · Andante and Allegretto
Arditti String Quartet

CD 2 · A Cappella Choral Works
Éjszaka · Reggel · Idegen földön · Magány
Két kánon · Betlehemi királyok · Bujdosó · Lux aeterna
Lakodalmas · Inaktelki nóták · Mátraszentimrei dalok
Pápainé · 3 Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin
Magyar Etüdök · Haj, ifjúság! · Húsvét · Hortobágy
Magos ko˝sziklának · Kállai ketto˝s
London Sinfonietta Voices · Terry Edwards

CD 3 · Works for Piano
Études pour piano · Musica ricercata
Pierre-Laurent Aimard

CD 4 · Vocal Works
Nonsense Madrigals
The King’s Singers
Mysteries of the Macabre
Sibylle Ehlert · Philharmonia Orchestra · Esa-Pekka Salonen
Aventures · Nouvelles Aventures
Phyllis Bryn-Julson · Rose Taylor · Omar Ebrahim
Philharmonia Orchestra · Esa-Pekka Salonen
Der Sommer
Christiane Oelze · Irina Kataeva
Három Weöres-dal · Öt Arany-dal
Rosemary Hardy · Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Négy lakodalmi tánc
Rosemary Hardy · Eva Wedin · Malena Ernman · Pierre-Laurent Aimard

CD 5 · Mechanical Music
Continuum · Hungarian Rock · Capriccios Nos. 1 & 2
Invention · Musica ricercata
Pierre Charial barrel organ
Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes
Françoise Terrioux metronomes
Études pour piano (exerpt) · Continuum
Jürgen Hocker player pianos

CD 6 · Keyboard Works
Induló · Polifón etüd · Haróm lakodalmi tánc · Sonatina · Allegro
Irina Kataeva & Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano 4 hands
Capriccios Nos. 1 & 2 · Invention
Irina Kataeva piano
3 Pieces for 2 Pianos
Irina Kataeva & Pierre-Laurent Aimard pianos
Passacaglia ungherese · Hungarian Rock (Chaconne) · Continuum
Elisabeth Chojnacka harpsichord
Ricercare – Omaggio a Girolamo Frescobaldi · 2 Studies for Organ · Volumina
Zsigmond Szathmáry organ

CD 7 · Chamber Music
Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano “Hommage à Brahms”
Saschko Gawriloff · Marie-Luise Neunecker · Pierre-Laurent Aimard
10 Pieces for Wind Quintet
6 Bagatelles for Wind Quintet
London Winds
Sonata for Solo Viola
Tabea Zimmermann

CD 8 & 9
Le Grand Macabre
Sibylle Ehlert · Laura Claycomb · Charlotte Hellekant · Jard van Nes
Derek Lee Ragin · Graham Clark · Steven Cole · Richard Suart · Willard White
Frode Olsen · Martin Winkler · Marc Campbell-Griffiths · Michael Lessiter
London Sinfonietta Voices · Philharmonia Orchestra · Esa-Pekka Salonen

Critically acclaimed pianist Eric Huebner releases his performance of György Ligeti's famous etudes alongside his iconic Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano with colleagues Yuki Numata Resnick and Adam Unsworth. Ligeti's attraction to stylistic influences from across the spectrum, including non-Western music cultures, while preserving a Hungarian core to his aesthetic, is apparent in Huebner's dynamic performances of these remarkable works. Pianist Eric Huebner has drawn worldwide acclaim for his performances of new and traditional music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and currently holds the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Piano Chair. He has been featured in orchestral works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud, Carter and R. Strauss among others and regularly appears in chamber music performances with musicians from the Philharmonic at New York City's Merkin Hall and elsewhere.