THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

the heels of Region A, and has an introductory quality–emphasizing the differences in
spatial location and in sonic material (sine tones rather than impulses, and a return to low
register, and heavy reverberation) between Regions A and B. After these faster initial
elements, there is a long decay and rest taking up the last half of the first event, and it is
from this point that the parallelisms between the two regions become more clear.
Register
The fundamentals of Region B’s more compact events are solidly rooted between
65 and 209 Hz., and are more understated when compared to Region A’s registral motion,
nevertheless, the region itself does expand, and furthermore, each of the subsections
shows an upward tendency. Event 1 has a number of distinct attacks beginning at 65 Hz
and ending at closer to 194 Hz. The fact that these events are all more compact than
those of Region A makes even a slight variation in pitch height more notable and this
rising contour here is clear. The two pitches of Event 2 begin at 149 Hz and 204 Hz;
moreover, both gliss slightly upwards, so that Event 2 contains an upwards direction both
across the two notes and within each note. The rapid attacks of Event 3 also end higher
than they begin, moving from 75 Hz, to leave the last pitches of 184 and 161 Hz
reverberating near the peak of the passage. In general, this region does not use register as
dramatically as Region A–the more precisely defined, compact nature of the pitches it
employs make it possible to suggest a predominantly upward expansion more subtly, and
the parallelism with Region A is carried out more fully in other dimensions.
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