Ligeti's Passacaglia, Hungarian Rock and Continuum might well be considered the century's most original solo harpsichord works. The composer relates in an interview (10/23/1978) that "I often work with acoustical illusions...for example, creating the illusion of a certain rhythmical succession which is not actually played. In...Continuum, the harpsichordist executes a succession of extremely rapid notes, if possible at the rate of 15 or 16 attacks per second. After a moment, one forgets this first speed, and one hears a second layer, a second rhythmic stratum, which is the result of the frequency of the appearance of certain notes...The distribution [of these notes] ...becomes in the flow of time a pattern, a rhythmical Gestalt, which is not actually performed as such." [Published in Interface VIII pp11-34; trans. Josh Ronsen, 2003]. According to harpsichordist Elizabeth Chojnacka, "The fast tempo tends to fuse the successive sounds in such a way that the prestissimo gives an impression of near immobility." [Philips LP 6526 009]. The use of two keyboards to create a fusion or confusion of sonorities had been successful in the works of Couperin, Rameau and occasionally Bach (Goldberg Variations), but here Ligeti creates an astronomical effect (the closest we'll ever get to experiencing the "music of the spheres", if there is any), asking listeners to forget they are hearing a harpsichord. Even harpsichordists have to admit that is a good thing once in a while.