Writing about Atmosph?res (1961), Ligeti explained he had “[…] developed a musical style that had moved away from the idiom conceived in terms of melodies, parts and formal schemes […].” “This music involves neither melody, nor harmony, nor rhythm, but rather, a kind of ‘state of matter’, a kaleidoscope pattern that gradually transforms.” The orchestra employs a large wind section and strings divided into 56 parts, meaning each of the musicians plays a separate part; however, “[…] crucially, it is not the movement of the individual parts that counts, but rather the pattern that emerges from the fabric of the parts.” “[…] Forever changing as it is, this form reflects immutability: its motion motionlessness, its finiteness the infinity of time.”