This concert celebrates the release of Notebook, the new CD by Lukas Ligeti’s eponymous, NYC-based ensemble, on New World Records. Ligeti founded the group to explore combinations of composition and improvisation that are too detail-oriented for a conventional band, yet too abstractly framed and rehearsal-intensive for classical ensembles. While musicians of older generations often identified primarily as either improvisers or interpreters, younger artists frequently excel at both; nowhere is this simultaneity of reading skills and individual expression more present than in New York City.
The group’s first concert took place at the Whitney Museum several years ago, and Ligeti composed the CD’s longest piece, “Kaleidoscope Point,” for that occasion. The newest works on this program are premieres—too recent to appear even on the new release. Notebook employs unusual approaches to interplay. In some pieces, an improvising soloist is “shadowed” by another player who provides a “background solo,” imitating and simultaneously challenging the principal voice. A polymetric drumming technique Ligeti developed—conceptually inspired by the music of the Baganda of Uganda—is used to conduct the ensemble, with each musician referencing a different component of the drum set as their downbeat. An analog synth arpeggiator functions as both melodic and rhythmic foundation, while West African–influenced melodies and white noise act as equal partners in melody and harmony.
In one piece, Notebook explores melody and rhythm as separate, rather than interdependent, phenomena during improvisation. Players are tasked with maintaining multiple conceptual threads at once. Although notated material sometimes dominates, the musicians are not simply interpreting; they are thinking aloud, contemplating repetitive sections of fixed length—a situation more common in jazz than in classical contexts.
Another piece features guitar effects that are unpredictable and difficult to integrate into a fully composed setting. Because these effects are unstandardized and player-dependent, the composer must concede a degree of control. Ligeti provided guitarist Tom McNalley with rhythmic cues for switching pedals on and off, but the choice of which pedals to use and how to engage them remains with the performer. The other musicians know when timbral shifts will occur and are given strategies for responding. In yet another piece, the group performs along to a track played through their phones, imitating what they hear while intentionally maintaining a lack of temporal coordination.
The music of Notebook inhabits a space between new composed music, free improvisation, and indie rock—experimenting in the cracks between genres to create a vivid and distinctive expressive language.
Daniel Blake saxophones
Ricardo Gallo keyboards
Tom McNalley guitar
Eyal Maoz guitar
Adrianna Mateo violin
Rick Parker trombone
Lukas Ligeti drums, conducting
The virtuosic, culture-mashing, and technology-savvy composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti ” –Village Voice
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.
