Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

[(poco) Sforzando]

I just read this lovely article: http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/10-great-works-20th-century-pierre-boulezs-90th-birthday/

I remember a great LSO performance at NY's Carnegie Hall from the year 2000 that included the Berg 3 Pieces and the Mahler 6th.

[Sergeant Rock]

I remember a great LSO performance at NY's Carnegie Hall from the year 2000 that included the Berg 3 Pieces and the Mahler 6th.

The hammerist finally earned his keep, eh?

Sarge

[not edward]

I remember a great LSO performance at NY's Carnegie Hall from the year 2000 that included the Berg 3 Pieces and the Mahler 6th.

I saw this in London (a truly great performance) and Edinburgh (very good but a bit of a letdown after London) on that tour. Both of these works played so well to Boulez's strengths as a conductor, and I feel a bit bad that I almost completely forgot everything about the Neuwirth work that was also part of the program.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I remember a great LSO performance at NY's Carnegie Hall from the year 2000 that included the Berg 3 Pieces and the Mahler 6th.

I wonder, perhaps Boulez was being faced with a rather more conservative opinion then, seeing that Berg 3 Pieces and Mahler 6th have indeed worked on a program together like that....

[(poco) Sforzando]

The hammerist finally earned his keep, eh?

Sarge

Le marteau était sans maître.

[kishnevi]

Discography question.

How many recordings of Le Marteau made under Boulez's direction* have been released?  The Complete Works box has two, the "official" DG recording, and a second "historical" recording which I think is also contained in the Percussions de Strasbourg 50 Ans box (but I don't feel like digging out the PdS box to confirm that).  But I seem to remember reading about a third one made midway betwern the two.  Is there a third?

*The credits list him as conductor, which seems a bit overmuch for what is essentially a chamber work.

[(poco) Sforzando]

(1) How many recordings of Le Marteau made under Boulez's direction* have been released?  The Complete Works box has two, the "official" DG recording, and a second "historical" recording which I think is also contained in the Percussions de Strasbourg 50 Ans box (but I don't feel like digging out the PdS box to confirm that).  But I seem to remember reading about a third one made midway betwern the two.  Is there a third?

(2) *The credits list him as conductor, which seems a bit overmuch for what is essentially a chamber work.

(1) Don't know myself, but I know someone who will certainly know and will get back to you.
(2) Not really. Given the complexity of the rhythms, a conductor is most definitely required. Even as recently as 2001, when I heard him direct the work at Carnegie Hall and he claimed that the performers mastered the work far more readily than when first written, Boulez still felt the need to direct it.

[kishnevi]

(1) Don't know myself, but I know someone who will certainly know and will get back to you.
(2) Not really. Given the complexity of the rhythms, a conductor is most definitely required. Even as recently as 2001, when I heard him direct the work at Carnegie Hall and he claimed that the performers mastered the work far more readily than when first written, Boulez still felt the need to direct it.

Merci.  Although there is no rush. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Discography question.

How many recordings of Le Marteau made under Boulez's direction* have been released?  The Complete Works box has two, the "official" DG recording, and a second "historical" recording which I think is also contained in the Percussions de Strasbourg 50 Ans box (but I don't feel like digging out the PdS box to confirm that).  But I seem to remember reading about a third one made midway betwern the two.  Is there a third?

*The credits list him as conductor, which seems a bit overmuch for what is essentially a chamber work.

This is probably going to give more questions rather than answers....but in Le Domaine Musical there is a third...but not knowing that recording could it possibly be another release of the second recording in the Complete Works box? Those are all released by DG as far as I know....

[ritter]

Discography question.

How many recordings of Le Marteau made under Boulez's direction* have been released?  The Complete Works box has two, the "official" DG recording, and a second "historical" recording which I think is also contained in the Percussions de Strasbourg 50 Ans box (but I don't feel like digging out the PdS box to confirm that).  But I seem to remember reading about a third one made midway betwern the two.  Is there a third?

*The credits list him as conductor, which seems a bit overmuch for what is essentially a chamber work.

The "official" recordings of Le Marteau san maître under Pierre Boulez's leadership (and, yes, the piece most definitely needs a conductor IMHO) are  5 (N.B.: the recording dates I give might be off by a year or two, as I'm writing from memory):

1) 1957, with Marie-Thèrese Cahn and musicians of the Domaine Musical - issued on LP by the Véga label, and now available as a "bonus disc" in the Accord box of Domaine Musical recordings.



2) 1963, with Jeanne Deroubaix. This is the one that appears in the Percussions de Strasbourg box, and is also included both in the Domaine box and the "Complete Works" set on DG. IIRC, orginally on LP on the Adès label, as well as on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. In America, it was available on Turnabout (and in this guise, was the first LP of Boulez's music I owned).

 

3) 1974, with Yvonne Minton and the Ensemble Musique Vivante. This was a Columbia release, that took ages to make it to CD. Now available in the big Boulez "orginal jackets" box on Sony, and in the "Masterworks of the 20th Century" compilation.



4) 1985, with the EIC and Eisabeth Laurence, on CBS. Also included in the Sony "original jackets" box.



5)  2004, again with the EIC, and Hillary Summers, on Deutsche Grammophon (and included in the "Complete Works" set).



EDIT: In 2017, a new "official" recording of Boulez conducting Le Marteau... has been launched. It's live from a concert in Berlin in 2010 (in the framework iof the celebrations of the composer's 85th birthday). It has the EIC with, again, Hillary Summers as vocal soloist:



Then, there's several studio or live recordings available sans Boulez, including Robert Craft's pioneeering effort for Columbia (available on CD, but not easy to come by), Odaline de la Martinez conducting Lontano on the Lorelt label, Ulrich Pöhl conducting Insomnio on the Encora label, and an alomst impossible to find Stradivarius CD with none other than Bruno Maderna conducting an Italian group.

I have them all, of course  (except for a Swedish effort by KammerensembleN on Caprice, which is shorn of all the vocal numbers  )...

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The "official" recordings of Le Marteau san maître under Pierre Boulez's leadership (and, yes, the piece most definitely needs a conductor IMHO) are 5 (N.B.: the recording dates I give might be off by a year or two, as I'm writing from memory):

1) 1957, with Marie-Thèrese Cahn and musicians of the Domaine Musical - issued on LP the Véga label, and now available as a "bonus disc" in the Accord box of Domaine Musicale recordings.



2) 1963, with Jeanne Deroubaix. This is the one that appears in the Percussions de Strasbourg box, and is also included both in the Domaine box and the "Complete Works" set ion DG. IIRC, orginally on LP ion the Adès label, as well as on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.



3) 1974, with Yvonne Minton and the Ensemble Musique Vivante. This was a Columbia release, that took ages to make it to CD. Now avaialble in the big Sony Boulez box, and in the "Masterworks of the 20th Century" compilation.



4) 1985, with the EIC and Eisabeth Laurence, on CBS.



5)  2004, again with the EIC, and Hillary Summers. On Deutsche Grammophon.



Then, there's several studio or live recordings available sans Boulez, including Robert Craft's pioneeering effort for Columbia (available on CD, but not easy to come by), Odaline de la Martinez conducting Lontano on the Lorelt label, Ulrich Pöhl conducting Insomnio on the Encora label, and an alomst impossible to find Stradivarius CD with none other than Bruno Maderna conducting an Italian group.

I have them all, of course.  (exceprt for a Swedish effort by KammerensembleN on Caprice, which is shorn of all the vocal numbers  )...

Ah, I forgot about all of Boulez's amazing stuff with Columbia/CBS......been busy with my DG and Erato recordings lately actually. But thank you for this post! It's great! And it's also great to know how lucky I am to have found and now own a copy of the Robert Craft recording.

[Karl Henning]

I have them all, of course.  (exceprt for a Swedish effort by KammerensembleN on Caprice, which is shorn of all the vocal numbers  )...

Le Marteau sans paroles? Quel horreur!

[ritter]

Le Marteau sans paroles? Quel horreur!

Scandaleux!  Almost as absurd as those "The Ring without Words" CDs that abound...

[(poco) Sforzando]

The "official" recordings of Le Marteau san maître under Pierre Boulez's leadership (and, yes, the piece most definitely needs a conductor IMHO) are  5. Then, there's several studio or live recordings available sans Boulez.

In other words, le marteau vraiment sans son maître. Your list matches exactly the five versions supplied by my friend. To my surprise, I only have the Deroubaix as a commercial recording, but on a separate Adès CD that includes the Flute Sonatine and Messiaen's Haikai. (In general I dislike Boulez's later DG recordings of his earlier works; the PSP for example sounds tame next to the older one on Sony.) I had the Craft and have made a CD transfer of my own from the LP. Then there are a number of bootlegs (shhhhh!!) you can find on YouTube. Maderna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwpyBj6U-Mc

[kishnevi]

The "official" recordings of Le Marteau san maître under Pierre Boulez's leadership (and, yes, the piece most definitely needs a conductor IMHO) are  5 (N.B.: the recording dates I give might be off by a year or two, as I'm writing from memory):

1) 1957, with Marie-Thèrese Cahn and musicians of the Domaine Musical - issued on LP by the Véga label, and now available as a "bonus disc" in the Accord box of Domaine Musical recordings.



2) 1963, with Jeanne Deroubaix. This is the one that appears in the Percussions de Strasbourg box, and is also included both in the Domaine box and the "Complete Works" set on DG. IIRC, orginally on LP on the Adès label, as well as on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. In America, it was available on Turnabout (and in this guise, was the first LP of Boulez's music I owned).

 

3) 1974, with Yvonne Minton and the Ensemble Musique Vivante. This was a Columbia release, that took ages to make it to CD. Now available in the big Boulez "orginal jackets" box on Sony, and in the "Masterworks of the 20th Century" compilation.



4) 1985, with the EIC and Eisabeth Laurence, on CBS. Also included in the Sony "original jackets" box.



5)  2004, again with the EIC, and Hillary Summers, on Deutsche Grammophon (and included in the "Complete Works" set).



Then, there's several studio or live recordings available sans Boulez, including Robert Craft's pioneeering effort for Columbia (available on CD, but not easy to come by), Odaline de la Martinez conducting Lontano on the Lorelt label, Ulrich Pöhl conducting Insomnio on the Encora label, and an alomst impossible to find Stradivarius CD with none other than Bruno Maderna conducting an Italian group.

I have them all, of course  (except for a Swedish effort by KammerensembleN on Caprice, which is shorn of all the vocal numbers  )...

Thanks for the rundown.  It seems I have numbers 2,3, and 5 on the list, and it is 2 which works best for me.

[André]

Credit is given where credit is due: this forum has far outboulezed its corresponding french outfits. Boulez still runs strong on GMG whereas the short-lived tide has since ebbed on other french forums   

[Karl Henning]

And this is the weekend to spend more time with my Domaine musical boxes.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Was posted only 6 hours ago on YouTube: http://youtu.be/tmRZ25Wcjic

Two of my favourite composers in discussion: Pierre Boulez and Dai Fujikura.

[Joaquimhock]

Goog music choices for his funeral yesterday:

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Very apt selectin of music for such an occasion. I can imagine Boulez smiling at that.