Poème Symphonique (1962)

“The formal thinking behind the piece is based on the interaction between individually determined periodic rhythms and a cumulative polyrhythmic overall structure. Although the overall rhythmic structure is on an indeterminate level intermediate – the result of adding individual periods of different length is at any given time random –, it is again determinate on the higher level of the temporal development of the overall from. This overall form consists of the three phases: uniformity – gradual structuring – and uniformity, whereby uniformity in the initial phase arises form the collective blur of the individual periods, and in the final phase is a results of the periodicity of the one remaining ticking metronome. There are no distinct divisions between the three phases: the rhythmical process leads smoothly and gradually from one phase into the next. This appears to be a continuous process but consists of individual, discontinuous moments as each metronome stop suddenly. In the sparsely instrumented final phase with only a few metronomes left ticking, this discontinuity becomes audible, most obviously when the last metronome stops.” (György Ligeti)