Idee determinizmu i indeterminizmu w twórczości Iannisa Xenakisa i Györgyego Ligetiego na przykładzie Pithoprakty oraz Clocks and Clouds
The Ideas of Determinism and Indeterminism in Works of Iannis Xenakis and György Ligeti on an Example of Pithoprakta and Clocks and Clouds

Summary/Abstract: The issue of determinism and indeterminism became essential in the music of the second half of the 20th century. It occupied a special place in artistic output of two avant-garde composers: Iannis Xenakis and György Ligeti. In both cases, the ideas of determinism and indeterminism are connected with their music: with Pithoprakta (written by Xenakis in 1955–1956) and with Clocks and Clouds (written by Ligeti in 1972). The following article presents some aspects of their artistic approach as well as an analysis and interpretation of the compositions. Xenakis proposed his own way of thinking about indeterminism in music linked to the “stochastic music”, and Pithoprakta is the first example of this compositional technique. Meanwhile, Ligeti’s main inspiration when composing Clocks and Clouds was the essay Of Clouds and Clocks written in 1965 by Karl Popper and published in 1972 (in his book Objective Knowledge). The Austrian-British philosopher used this metaphor to describe different physical phenomena which are more or less predictable. Pithoprakta as well as Clocks and Clouds represent specific kind of music called “sound-mass music”. In both of them some distinctive textural and timbral structures may be pointed out: in the first work, they can be described as figures (“galaxy” and “beam”), and in the second one – as bands (“clocks” and “clouds”)

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