The Hungarians' ignorance of Györgi Ligeti

Music critic Miklos Fay complains that György Ligeti, who died last week and was perhaps Hungary's most renowned contemporary composer, is hardly known in his home country of Hungary. "It's shocking. Only a few of us mourn his passing because they know all his works and are sad that there will be no more of them…There will also be no more concerts for politeness' sake where foreign orchestras play 'Lontano' as a bold act representing the triumph of modern music to a yawning Hungarian audience. Ligeti should be played when only when the music is used to convey a message to an interested audience. We are now posterity. It's up to us whether the world keeps on spinning without Ligeti, but with his music.”

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