Ligeti, György: Ramifications

"Ramifications" represents a further development of my method of composition with complex musical net-formations; it is, as it were, a terminus in the development from "dense and static" to "broken-up and mobile". The title refers to the polyphonic technique of the part-writing; in one skein, individual parts that are twisted together move in divergent directions so that the strand of the voice gradually become disentangled. The total form is made up of the alternation of ramification and unification of the parts and of the rents or bunching together of the net-formation that ensues from this. And as well as that, there are in this piece new aspects of a micro-tonal harmony. Even earlier I was occasionally working with deviations from the equal temperament (Requiem, "Volumina", "Harmonies", Second String Quartet). But what is new here is the consistent application of an idea of hyperchromatic harmony. This is made possible by one half of the string instruments being tuned a quarter-tone higher than the others. From the automatically ensuing differences in intonation when the instruments are played, arises a fluctuation in pitch such that one can hardly ever hear exact quarter-tone intervals. In only a few dense places approximative quarter-tone clusters result; apart from that we find a totally new kind of "uncertain" harmony, as though the harmonies had rotted: thex have a strong taste and decay has permeated the music. - György Ligeti