something about me

I ask for forgiveness. 

That is the name of the composition in translation from Hungarian. Why Hungarian? Because I am talking directly to the composer, who inspired me with his beautiful music. Only for me to butcher it in a way, for which I will burn in hell. That composer being György Ligeti and the specific piece being the second piece of his relatively early 1953 set of compositions for piano named Musica Ricercata. 

The name (besides referring to an established contrapuntal style) translates to “research music”. It could be viewed as somewhat of a collection of studies, research into what is possible with a given limit of material. That being in a lot more limited way than for example dodecaphony. 

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And for me, working on this piece (of crap) was very much research as well. 
Into what happens when you replace the material of a piece of art while keeping the whole structure. It reminds me of those kitsch paintings of the Mona Lisa made out of beer bottle caps or something similar. It is perhaps not such an interesting question after all, but the research had to be done to discover this. That's where I see the value of this composition. That's why I won't throw it into the trash, but I will proudly present it so everyone can hear and find out how one can devastate a beautiful piece of art. With such a simple action, replacing the material. 

What it depends on here is what kind of shift in material happens. It is very common that a piece of music composed for a certain instrument will be performed on another instrument. That is literally the same principle as what I have done here, yet the results can be so different. Why? I couldn't tell you exactly. There is some undefinable line that everyone must discover and respect themselves, most definitely the line is also elsewhere for everyone. Some may never venture out of their comfort zone in fear of crossing this line, some spend their whole life crossing the line back and forth. I believe that is what I have done here. 

So, what have I done? 

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I was working on a different composition for which I was acquiring recordings of the typical and fascinating chants and screams of people on the big market in The Hague who are selling food at their stalls.
Later, when going through the recordings, I found a striking recording of a man chanting the word "euro" repeatedly but with some slight intonation changes. 
There was the idea – since the Ligeti's Mesto, Rigido e Ceremoniale is built around mostly just a semitone, I started to wonder… 
And then I finally did it. I have made a 1:1 transcription, replacing all the piano notes with a corresponding "euro" chant, in corresponding pitch intervals, rhythms, and tempo. Straight forward. 

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Have a listen, you poor listener…

Bocsánatot Kérek 

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