Part 1.Part 2.Part 3.

Conclusions

“The link between art and real history is the fact that works of art are structured like monads.  History may be called the content of works of art.  Analysing them is the same as becoming conscious of the immanent history stored up in them.” Adorno (1970, p.126).

The bedrock of this essay has been to show how Ligeti’s Atmosphères moved itself away from classical traditions of composing orchestral music.  The parallel drawn by doing so has been to argue for its use in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and while there is no definite answer as to what Kubrick was thinking when using Ligeti’s music, it is clear from the musical analysis that there are indeed a number of ties as well as ironies.

Through its instrumentation, rhythm and meter, tonality and structure, Atmosphères is a clear break away from what could be…

Part 1.

Musical Techniques of Atmosphères and Disassociations with the Past.

“Seen from this angle, with Atmosphères I was consciously reacting against the refinement of serialism.  Musical texture in Atmosphères is also refined but in quite a different dimension.” -Ligeti (1983, p.38).

Before even looking in any depth at the notational content of Ligeti’s Atmosphères, it becomes clear to the reader when looking over the piece’s prefatory notes, that this is not a typical example of orchestral music.  In fact, these opening notes make very clear that Atmosphères is almost deliberately against the grain of more typical orchestral works, even explicitly so in Ligeti’s descriptive language and instructions to the musicians.  Everything about this piece of music has an angst-ridden rebellion ingrained into its every motive, not merely just its tonality and musicality but even down to its structure, its treatment of rhythm and the various ways classical instruments…

Ligeti’s Atmosphères as a Musical Foreshadowing of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Introduction.

“First in Cologne in 1957 and later during my long stay in Vienna in the ’60s, I gradually evolved a musical style in which I abandoned structures conceived in terms of bars, melodies, lines and conventional forms.  In this respect my first two orchestral works, Apparitions and Atmosphères, are the most radical.  Atmosphères is just floating, fluctuating sound, although it is polyphonic.” Ligeti – (1983, p.14).

Stanley Kubrick was a director who was very specific in his use of composed and sourced music in his films.  His relationship with sound and music is one of the most analysed in audio-visual academia and his musical choices have lead to an endless stream of readings within his work.  Towards the middle of his career, he began to experiment with classical music of the 20th century rather than…

At this moment in time, I’m currently between two relatively heavy audio-visual essays.  The first (which is now finished and will be going online in segments from the end of the month) is about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film, The Sacrifice (1986) and how it has parallel aims with that of the Russian composer Scriabin and his unfinished work, Mysterium.  The second is looking at Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and how Ligeti’s Atmospheres (through musical techniques and ideas) foreshadows Kubrick’s and Clarke’s narrative.

I’m not merely writing this article for a cathartic exercise but because the essays are starting to interlock and I’m finding that one is helping with the understanding of the other.  This is an understanding of the films rather than simply a flimsy use of academic excessiveness.  By applying the theories from one essay to the other, for the first time in a while, I…