James Kearny writes:

>I second John's recommendation of the Piano Etudes on Sony SK 62308, wth
>Aimard's pin(g)-sharp playing.  Even Dave Lampson would tap his foot to
>the Allegro Con Spirito of Ligeti's Musica Ricercata, also on this CD.

And Dave Lampson writes:

>[Only with a gun to my loved ones head.  -Dave]

Oh Dave, tell us how you really feel!  (You've been walking among the
sinners too long.) One of the reasons I like Ligeti so much is that to
me, he is neither too rigorous, such as Boulez or Carter; nor too eager
to please, such as Nyman, Maw, and Henze, who to me, sound a lot like
Schoenberg with all the wrong notes.  (My apologies to Brahms)

Do you like the Debussy Etudes? Certainly Ligeti's are only a hop, skip
and a jump away.  A Gramophone reviewer commented about how Liszt would
have enjoyed some of these pieces, and this helps illustrate my point:
Ligeti seems to move more easily among the Dead White Guys than many
Moderns who are already dead.  Do you like Bartok's String Quartets?
Ligeti's own, and "Lontano" grow right out of these.  And there is such
a variety of music in Ligeti's catalogue that it's hard to imagine that
you couldn't find *something * aesthetically pleasing.

Well, I understand that one has his own tastes, and that's the bottom line,
being that I just dismissed Nyman, Maw, and Henze, (their music doesn't
drive me up the wall, however.) But Ligeti is different--*I* like him!

John Smyth