THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

The remainder of Region G is largely devoted to the completion of this motion.
Event 5 (shown below in Figure 3.16) begins another crescendo, now amplified by an
acceleration of attack points building a much denser texture of more mixed level-oblique
events (and it is worth noting the distinction here between a crescendo internal to an
event, and one made by the accumulation of events). While the stereo rendition of the
piece does not adjust the channel, in the original quad version this motion traveled from
the right channel to the back, and then swept back through the right. The increase in
reverberation through this event, and the distancing effect that reverb can have may be an
attempt to emulate a change in channel here. The move is also paired with a temporary
retreat from the highest register, linking, perhaps the lower register with the back channel.
Then at about 1'33", the beginning of Event 6, Ligeti begins to shift the sounds
smoothly from the right channel to the left, by carefully fading out one channel while the
same material fades into the other channel creating a kind of glissando in space, and also
analagous to the role of the dynamic gestures discussed above. This is a new
development, and a very significant one. Previously spatial distribution was a primary
category for separating regions and events, and no regions existed in more than one
channel; here, however, the similarities in sound material assert a single identity across all
available channels.
While the initial events of Region G required coordinated attacks to create
gestures, in the final events of the region, this coordination begins to break these spectra
down into more isolated pitches, and in doing so prepares the way for more dramatic
changes in Region J. This last part of Region G and the transition to Region J are shown
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