Andrew Clements 

Ligeti, Complete Piano and Harpsichord Works, Haase/Piazzini

(Tacet 129, two CDs)
  
  


One disc of this set is devoted to Ligeti's ongoing series of piano Etudes - Erika Haase's survey consists of 18 pieces - the other to Ligeti's remaining keyboard works. There is the trio of pieces for harpsichord, Continuum, Passacaglia Ungarese and Hungarian Rock; the two-piano Monument-Selbstportrait-Bewegung, from 1976; and pieces for piano duet from the 1940s, when Ligeti, in his 20s, was finding his musical voice and in thrall to Bartok's influence.

Haase's performances do not lack conviction; whether playing piano or harpsichord she never holds back, and there are passages when a bit more refinement would be welcome. If nothing here is as definitive as the performances in the Ligeti Edition on Sony and Teldec, this is still a useful collection to mark the composer's 80th birthday.

 

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