VIENNA, June 13 (UPI) -- Hungarian musical pioneer and avant garde composer Gyorgy Ligeti has died in Vienna at the age of 83.
Ligeti died Monday, the Guardian reported Tuesday.
He was best known for his creation of "micropolyphony," the mixing of musical facets such as texture to the point that borders ceased to exist between melody and rhythm, the Guardian said.
"Ligeti was an avant garde, definitely modern composer who did the most for renewing the musical language in the second half of the 20th century," Budapest Festival Orchestra conductor Ivan Fischer said.
Ligeti contributed to the soundtrack of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" and also contributed to Romanian folk music.
One of his former assistants, Stephen Furguson, said his "cluster sound" H fascinated Kubrick "and propelled Ligeti to the top of the great composers of the second half of the 20th Century."
Ligeti is survived by his wife and a son.
