György Ligeti was not the only Hungarian composer to have fled to the West in 1956. However, he was the only one to have established himself as a major figure in contemporary music; indeed, international recognition came to him amazingly fast, with the electronic work Artikulation (1958), and two works for orchestra, Apparitions (1958/59) as well as Atmosphères (1960).

They were followed at regular intervals by further compositions which confirmed his position as a leader of the avant-garde. For his colleagues in Budapest, he became an authority, something of a guru whom they sent their scores for comments. “What did Ligeti say about the piece?” would be a recurring question. One of the composers has presented me with his correspondence with Ligeti, or rather, Ligeti’s letters and cards, which he kept through half a century. They are marked by the endeavor—obvious for an outsider—to tone down the edge of critical remarks, rather to encourage and to find positive aspects he could praise.

Ligeti told me that one of the features that bothered him about the music of his friends in Hungary was that it was well-groomed, rather too beautifully combed, so to speak. He meant “academic” perhaps, where imagination was stymied by a close adherence to rules.

In our first interview recorded in 1970 in Budapest (he had not visited the city since 1956), he described a nocturnal walk near Buda Castle in 1950 when the idea of stationary music had first occurred to him. “I would rather call it a stationary sound combination,” he added. “I did not dare to hope that it would ever become a real composition.”

One wonders, of course, whether he would have written Atmosphères if he had stayed in Budapest. I expect he would have—but he would probably have had to wait decades before hearing it performed. In the absence of a live performance of the music he imagined, his development would have taken a different course.

I sent him the transcript of our interview and he returned it, with fifty-five numbered corrections and changes, almost by return post. This initial contact marked the beginning of a relationship (I dare not call it friendship) which lasted almost to the end of his life.