György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Gyorgy Ligeti’s music is extremely original. I was drawn to the way he would use changing textures, micropolyphony and humour as a basis for structuring his music. The sounds he used were also interesting: rooms full of flutes, 100 metronomes (in Clocks & Clouds [1973]), slowly drawing organ stops out in Volumina (1962/6) and his vocal writing in Lux Aeterna (1966), champagne bubbles in Melodien (1971) and a marvellous Piano Concerto (1988).
His solo piano studies are among the most cleverly-made. Genius.