THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

introduce noisier, diffuse sounds. Within these regions oppositions such as level/oblique
and sustained/clipped help bring about internal divisions between events or groups of
events. Having defined these roles, Ligeti, however, does not use these consistently
through the piece, as one might expect from a truly hierarchical structure.
By the end of the first stage, Ligeti begins to loosen these cagtegories’ roles by
mixing the sound types (particularly compact and diffuse) more and more extensively
within each region; in the second stage, he begins to undercut the previous means of
distinction more radically. First Ligeti undercuts the use of spatial distribution as the
primary means of dividing regions. This occurs in Region G where a consistent sonic
character (predominantly oblique and compact harmonic spectra) makes the region cohere
more strongly than does the spatial location, which moves from the right channel to the
left. Following this transfer, Ligeti begins to undercut the very oppositions which made
Region G cohere. Region J is consistent in its use of dynamic crescendos and
decrescendos, but switches freely between the compact and diffuse and pairing these
inconsistently with the level and oblique. The gap between these extremes is filled, in part,
by Region H, whose impulses occupy moderate room between compact and diffuse and
create a special type of gesture which mediates between the level and oblique, thus
suggesting more flexible connections across both channel and sonic character.
This deconstruction of the beginning of the piece occurs in a much denser
environment than before, one which Ligeti has carefully built from the beginning. While
Stage I contained minimal overlapping–only the clear ends of regions with the beginnings
of others–Stage II builds quickly towards completely overlapping regions. Within this
200