Ligeti: Lontano

The conducting soprano Barbara Hannigan always surprises her audiences with well-considered and innovative concerts. On this occasion she gathers L’Ascension by Messiaen, Stravinsky’s choral tribute to the Lord in the firmament of his power and symphonies for wind instruments, and Ligeti’s harmonic crystal sounds – music that has triumphed over gravity. Pure beauty from three orchestral masters who have made invaluable contributions to the history of music. You can now enjoy all four pieces here on GSOplay.

The title of this piece, Lontano, has to do with distance, with something far away. This is also how the music is structured: it begins with a lonely distant sound that comes closer and is filled with more and more instruments, and it ends with a long fade to disappear again into the distance. In between we find sonorous associations, or as the composer himself put it: as a window to the long suppressed dream world of childhood.