Top 100 Composers: Pierre Boulez, composer - part 1 (of 4)
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Pierre Boulez, conductor - part 2 (of 4)
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Pierre Boulez, biography - part 3 (of 4)
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Pierre Boulez, IRCAM - part 4 (of 4)
Oi! Pierre Boulez! He's so celebrated otherwise; there're so many recordings by him both as composer & conductor on major labels that're widely distributed; he'd been the conductor of many orchestras; he was fabulously wealthy; IRCAM, possibly the world's best-funded music institution was founded by him - so what the fuck am I doing promoting his work here?!
Good question. I'm listening to the earliest piece of his that I have a recording of as I type this: "Notations" (1945), a piano solo performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard. I like it. I've read Joan Peyser's biography of him & my review of it is below. I'm in the process of reading Georgina Born's "Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde" & my review of that will appear here also.
The bottom line is that even though I'm somewhat repulsed by what I glean about his personality from Peyser's bio & even though I'm not even that enthusiastic about the world of music that I think he strove for, I still think his music is pretty special. I don't have to like people or even agree w/ them to find value in their work. A partial result of this is that I'm updating my personal retrospective of recordings of his that I have & below is a list of the results:
Pierre Boulez Retrospective
Volume 1 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
01. "Notations" - 1945 - 10:43 - Pierre-Laurent Aimard - DG CD
02. "Sonatine" - 1946 - 12:58 - Severino Gazzelloni: flute, Frederick Rzewski: piano [1968 recording]
03. "Première Sonate" - 1946 - 9:12 - David Burge: piano [1966?]
02. "Sonatine" - 1946 - 12:58 - Aurèle Nicolet: flute, Jürg Wittenbach: piano [1969 recording]
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
03. "Première Sonate" - 1946 - 11:15 - Charles Rosen: piano [1973]
04. "Le Visage Nuptial" 1946 (rev. 1988-89) - 30:00 - BBC Symphony Orchestra & BBC Singers conducted by Boulez - Erato CD
Volume 2 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
03. "Première Sonate" - 1946 - 9:35 - Aki Takahashi: piano [1976]
05. "Le Soleil des Eaux" - 1948 - 7:53 - BBC Symphony Orchestra [same recording on Time-Life boxset as on Argo record]
03. "Première Sonate" - 1946 - 10:35 - Alan Marks: piano [1977]
05. "Le Soleil des Eaux" - 1948 - 10:12 - BBC Symphony Orchestra & BBC Singers conducted by Boulez - Erato CD [NOT the same recording on Time-Life boxset & on Argo record]
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
06. "Livres pour Quator, Partie I, II, et Partie V" - 1949 - 21:30 - I & II: Quator Parrenin, V: Das Hamann Quartett
07. "Livres pour Cordes" - 1968 - 10:34 - Strings of the New Philharmonic Orchestra
Volume 3 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
08. "Le Marteau sans Maitre" - 1954 - 28:35 - Robert Craft conducting
09. "Trope" (from "Piano Sonata #3") - 1956-1960 - 7:20 - Charles Rosen: piano
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
10. "Structures for two pianos, Book II" - 1956-61 - 22:06 - Pierre-Laurent Aimard & Florent Boffard: pianos - DG CD
11. "Figures, Doubles, Prismes" - 1957-58 (rev. 1963-68) - 20:43 - BBC Symphony Orchestra & BBC Singers conducted by Boulez - Erato CD
Volume 4 of 7:
Both sides of a 60 minute tape:
12. "Pli Selon Pli" - 1957-1962 - 1:00:16 - BBC Symphony Orchestra
Volume 5 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
09. "Constellation-Miroir" (from "Piano Sonata #3") - 1956-1960 - 13:20 - Charles Rosen: piano
12. "Improvisation #2" - 1957 - 9:45 - The Philadelphia Composer's Forum
13. "Poesie pour pouvoir" - 1958 - 18:29
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
14. "Eclat" - 1964 - 9:21 - Orchestra of Our Time
16. "Domaines" - 1968 - 30:19 - Ensemble Musique Vivante
Volume 6 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
14. "Eclat" - '1965' - 9:41 - Ensemble Intercontemporain
15. "Multiples" (unfinished) - 17:02 - Ensemble Intercontemporain
17, "Messagesquisse" - 1976-77 - 8:35 - Jean-Guihen Queryas: cello solo, Solistes de violoncelles de Paris
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
18. "Rituel in Memoriam Maderna" - 1974/75 - 25:19 - BBC Symphony Orchestra
19. "Anthemes 2" - 1997 - 20:27 - Hae-Sun Kang: violin, Andrew Gerzo: electro-acoustic realization
Volume 7 of 7:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
20. "...explosante-fixe" - 1991-93 - 36:43 - Ensemble Intercontemporain; IRCAM/Electro-acoustic realisation: Andrew Gerszo - DG CD
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
21. "Sur Incises" - 1996/98 - 37:06 - Solistes de l'Ensemble Intercontemporain
Addendum 1:
Side 1 of a 60 minute tape:
A. "Première Sonate pour piano" - 1946 - 9:44 - Paavaji Jumppanen: piano
C. "Troisième Sonate pour piano" - 1955-57 - 19:02 - Paavaji Jumppanen: piano
1. "Formant 2: Trope" - 7:40
2. "Formant 3: Constellation-Miroir" - 11:22
Side 2 of a 60 minute tape:
B. "Deuxième Sonate pour piano" - 1947-48 - 31:06 (might be cut off by a few seconds) - Paavaji Jumppanen: piano
Addendum 2:
Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
25. "Répons" - 1980-84 - 42:31 - Ensemble InterContemporain - Electro-acoustique realization: Andrew Gerzso
Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
26. "Dialogue de l'ombre double" - 1985 - 18:13 - Alain Damiens: clarinet - Electro-acoustique realization: Andrew Gerzso
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Pierre Boulez, conductor - part 2 (of 4)
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