THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

This separation is clearly distinct from the body of the piece and separate from
what Ligeti described as the "gradual, irreversible progress from the heterogeneous… to
31
the complete mixture," and yet it is still a new reworking of the material, almost all of the
oppositional states are present in the coda, yet none of them in a consistent enough way to
dominate the texture. The events of the coda do not really develop in the way that
previous regions did, but rather present a series of contrasting snippets. While some of
these isolated moments do have surface connections to other material–for example, the
compact-oblique gestures in Events 6 and 8 seem to recall states characteristic of Region
G or the end of J–these are moments without the same kind of context and cannot be seen
to relate to these previous sections in anything more than a surface association. The
oppositional states in the coda are not so much worked upon, as in previous regions which
strove towards new states of mixture and moderation, but presented simply, reminding us
that after this grand amalgamation and move towards opacity, there remain individually
dialectic states that cannot be fully resolved.
Conclusions
Artikulation is a complex piece, which balances an organically unfolding process
with subtle challenges to any thoroughgoing hierarchy. The beginning of the piece
presents very clear delineations of material based on channel separation and type of
material. The compact/diffuse opposition is particularly important early on, as Region A is
made of moderate impulses, Region B of more compact sine tones, and Regions C and D
31 Ligeti, “Metamorphosis,” 11.
199