THE ELECTRONIC WORKS OF GYÖRGY LIGETI AND THEIR ...

The net result of this rhythmic design is an exponential acceleration, as shown in the graph
below, and while all of these durations are doubled in the finished work (as shown in the
spectrograph above) this exponential curve shown in Figure 2.5 remains the same.
Figure 2.5. Exponential Acceleration in
Section B (Events / Sec.)
Ligeti uses a quasi-serial matrix, transcribed in Figure 2.6, to define materials into
categories and assign them to the events in this rhythmic design. The roman numerals on
the vertical axis of this matrix refer to the type of attack, direction of the glissando, listed
on the left-hand side, and on the right-hand side, the register. This will produce a
stratified texture, where different types of events are consistently associated with a
particular register; the continual up and down glissing will occur in the highest register,
and the pizzicato glissando upwards (an upwards gliss with a sharp attack and quick
decay) will always be in next register down. These registers do seem to overlap, and are
treated with some flexibility in the finalized piece.
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