Witold Lutosławski's Piano Sonata and Piano Etudes by György Ligeti and Michaël Lévinas

The following treatise is based on content from two separate lecture recitals that I previously delivered at Florida State University. The first lecture recital was presented on April 6, 2016. There, an in-depth analysis of Witold Lutosławski's Sonata for Piano and was followed by the performance of that piece. The second lecture recital was presented on December 10, 2017, with focus on György Ligeti's Piano Etudes, Book 3 and Michaël Lévinas' Three Etudes for Piano. The first part of present treatise focuses on Lutosławski's rarely performed Piano Sonata. As his only existing student composition, this Piano Sonata is an ideal work through which it is possible to examine Lutosławski's stylistic development, evolving from traditional romantic idioms to distinctly modern aesthetics. The paper presents a short survey of composer's biography, historical background, and the musical influences; discusses the combinations of the "old" and "new" musical elements in this Sonata through analyzing the forms, structures, melodies, and the pitch organizations in the piece. The second part of this paper includes seven selected piano etudes by two 21st century European composers. Four of the etudes were chosen from Ligeti's Piano Etudes, Book 3 and Three Etudes for Piano by French composer Michaël Lévinas respectively, mostly because Lévinas' music was highly influenced by Ligeti's work. The purpose of the second part of this essay is to introduce composer Michaël Lévinas and his still unknown work and to simultaneously compare the distinct compositional styles and sound philosophies of Ligeti and Lévinas by analyzing the forms and compositional techniques of the etudes in question. In addition, the essay will discuss pianistic considerations and practice suggestions vis-à-vis certain etudes. While these two parts of this treatise are not directly connected, the author hopes that the discussion offered in these pages will help spread awareness of and generate more interest in some of the most original 20th and 21st century European piano works.