At first, it all sounds very easy. The notes leap through and over one another as if conjured up by a magician. However, nothing goes quite as smoothly as it seems, and here and there the music snags. notes get in each other's way and somehow it all gets somewhat out of hand. Our young Harry Potter still has a lot to learn ... Ligeti has a brilliant grasp of how to capture the essence of this scene in music. With a generous portion of wit and reminiscences of "minimal music" a la Steve Reich, the composer allows the story to unfold and is effortlessly successful in creating one of the most difficult pieces in the entire piano literature. Tempo and hectic activity, active agitation and slapstick stumbling: this all combines to illustrate "The Apprentice Wizard".

A quartet of paintings by the American Mark Tobey that displays expanses of white in various shades provides the inspiration for this solo piano work. The images from the paintings are translated into music that plays off static and dynamic forces, interweaving with sounds reminiscent of a Javanese gamelan.