THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

decrescendo gesture in the right and the use of more indiviuated attacks in the left. This is
stated most clearly in Event 1, and then in more mixed and complicated versions in the
later events. Adding to these complications are the features which encourage
coordination, particularly the use of reverb and pitch, globally moving from reverberated
pitches at the beginning of 2 along with the continuation of 1a to the almost completely
dry and noisy beginning of 3a and 3b, and the return of reverberated pitch in 3c and 3d.
These trends can be seen by comparing events in the following table of oppositions.
Region M
Just before 2'57", there is an explosive noise as both channels filling out as full a
portion of the available spectrum as anything before–from nearly 67 to 8820 Hz in the
right channel, and slightly higher–70 to 9334 Hz–in the left. The masses of noises in each
channel are nearly continuous, almost indistinguishable from each other for the first 2
seconds, and indeed this is the densest moment of the piece, but the individual channels do
begin to regain separate identities.
At about 2'59" a few pitches can be heard in the right channel, still heavily
reverberated. When the left channel grows softer, at 3'02" these pitches emerge even
more clearly. This point is labeled as Event 2 in Figure 3.24. Emerging as such, these
pitches emphasize the composite nature of the right channel’s texture–it is not just noise,
but noise created by the complete mixture of materials. This episode reinforces the
distance that the piece has come, reminding us of the reverberated impulses of the
beginning of the piece, in the transition, and at the beginning of Phase 2, revealing that
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