THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

polyphonic texture of two simultaneous but contrasting sound masses, that Ligeti begins
to reintroduce smaller connections such as the ones between Regions H and J. One of the
truly special moments of the piece occurs as the long regions of Stage II begin to yield
these small scale interconnections which continue through to the end of the piece.
While the piece works towards this dense texture, Ligeti primes ones attention to
these smaller connections through equally careful means; the registral contour of mid-
high-low provides an illustrative example. This contour is first introduced abstractly by
Region A as part of the expanding direction of the piece. In Regions C and D it appears
again helping to associate certain events and subdivide each region; in D particularly, this
contour is clearly presented in each of the first two events, with an oblique motion in the
final element. In the context of Region D, this contour binds the first two events together,
and creates a small scale division between these introductory events and the rest of the
region, which is less clearly patterned. This exact configuration, including the final
oblique element, is repeated in Region J, Event 2, but has a very different function. In
Region J this event associates quite differently with the surrounding materials, through
connections in sonic character and dynamic envelope and less through register. When it
occurs in Region J, this contour itself recalls earlier material but does not have any
immediate relevance to the region beyond delimiting one event, and thus one element
which seemed so salient to the clear divisions of the beginning dissolves into just one of
many coexisting elements by the end of Stage II.
Another recognizable gesture, the noise glissandi which first appear in Region C’s
introductory gesture, provide a similar example. A single noise gliss appears as Region
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