[2] Ligeti explains in notes to the listening score (see below): The piece is called 'Artikulation' because in this sense an artificial language is articulated: question and answer, high and low voices, polyglot speaking and interruptions, impulsive outbreaks and humor, charring and whispering.
[1][3][4]The three minute and 45 second long[5] piece, in quadraphonic sound, was premiered March 25, 1958 at WDR Cologne's 'Musik der Zeit' concert series and September 4, 1958 at Darmstadt.
Despite Ligeti's original notation, consisting of a large number of charts and tables,[17] this score, approved by the composer, has been described as having, "a unique and appealing aesthetic", and as being, "easy to follow when viewed aligned with the music".
[11] Tom Service of The Guardian argues that even prior to Wehinger's score and its animation, "Ligeti himself imagined the sounds of Artikulation conjuring up images and ideas of labyrinths, texts, dialogues, insects, catastrophes, transformations, disappearances.
"[8] In 2003, Matmos included the composition in a list of the best musique concrète work; they compared its length to that of pop singles and felt that the piece "makes the most out of the dramatic jumpcuts and juxtapositions which tape editing makes possible", comparing "the sudden upswoops, dropouts and hard-panned bursts of sound" to the work of Lee Perry and Wassily Kandinsky.
They added: "Ligeti's compositional nous means that even when he's chopping up purely electronic source material (sine waves and snerts and blips and blops), he comes up with something strong and at times almost melodic, like an extended run of backwards reverbed birdsong.