13. György LigetiRequiem for Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra
The greatest modernist piece of music to come out of the last century. We use it as an intro tape sometimes so I have to include it. It’s on the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ligeti breaks all the rules of composition by using discordancy so that everything is clashing. It’s the most radical piece of music for its sheer revolutionary content in terms of orchestration. My god, it’s just so creepy and primal. It creates a very strange effect on the listener because it’s not using any known harmonies. I discovered that when I saw 2001 as a kid it was too much, but I remember loving that music.
