Sebastian Ars Acoustica's video: Gy rgy Ligeti - Lux Aeterna 2001: A Space Odyssey

György Ligeti - Lux Aeterna (1966) The Stuttgart Schola Cantorum, Clytus Gottwald 2001: A Space Odyssey is a soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released in 1968. The soundtrack is known for its use of many classical and orchestral pieces, and credited for giving many classical pieces resurgences in popularity, such as Johann Strauss II's 1866 Blue Danube Waltz and Richard Strauss' symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra (inspired by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche). The soundtrack includes excerpts from four of Ligeti pieces: Atmosphères, Lux Aeterna, Requiem and Aventures In addition to the majestic yet fairly traditional compositions by the two Strausses and Aram Khachaturian, Kubrick used the highly modernistic compositions by György Ligeti which employ micropolyphony, the use of sustained dissonant chords that shift slowly over time. This technique was pioneered in Atmosphères, the only Ligeti piece heard in its entirety in the film. Ligeti admired Kubrick's film, but in addition to being irritated by Kubrick's failure to obtain permission directly from him, he was offended that his music was used in a film soundtrack shared by composers Johann and Richard Strauss. The Richard and Johann Strauss pieces and György Ligeti's Requiem (the Kyrie section) act as recurring leitmotifs in the film's storyline. The Requiem is heard three times, all of them during appearances of the monolith. The first is its encounter with apes just before the Zarathustra-accompanied ape discovery of the tool. The second is the monolith's discovery on the Moon, and the third is Bowman's approach to it around Jupiter just before he enters the Star Gate. This last sequence with the Requiem has much more movement in it than the first two, and it transitions directly into the music from Atmosphères which is heard when Bowman actually enters the Star Gate. No music is heard during the monolith's much briefer final appearance in Dave Bowman's celestial bedroom which immediately precedes the Zarathustra-accompanied transformation of Bowman into the Star-Child. A shorter excerpt from Atmosphères is heard during the pre-credits prelude and film intermission, which are not in all copies of the film. Other music used is Ligeti's Lux Aeterna and an electronically altered form of his Aventures, the last of which was so used without Ligeti's permission and is not listed in the film's credits. Lux Aeterna is heard in the moon-bus scene en route to the Tycho monolith. Video created with Sonic Visualizer, vokoscreen, OpenShot, Sound Converter and Audacity on a Debian 8 Jessie Linux System.