petrarch,
torut...I've now read the Meïmoun book of conversations with Boulez (it's less than 100 pages long), and yes, it is interesting. It deals with a very specific period in the composer's development (roughly from his arrival in Paris in 1943 through the early years of his involvement with the Renaud-Barrault troupe). In a nutshell, one could say, it describes the progress of Boulez from being exposed to
modernity--embodied by Honegger in the last years of occupied Paris--to being involved with the
avantarde--in the late forties.
We can read about his well-known dislike for Leibowitz, about Messiaen, etc., but also about less known stuff such as an early admiration for some Jolivet works (the
Danses rituelles and
Mana), his--not very positive--views on Sartre, his early literary tastes (as a teeneager, he had set a Théophile Gautier poem to music), etc. All in all, a pleasant but by no means "indispensable" read.
As for the Boulez-Cage correspondence, I haven't read it yet, but this does seem a "definitive" edition, an expanded and revised reprint of Nattiez's early 90s edition, and is profusely illustrated. It's a Schott - Paul Sacher Foundation release from 2001, and the letters are presented in the original languages they were written in: French for the most (with Cage quite competent in the language), English (with Boulez's rather tentative at this time) or a mixture of both. I'm surprised this publication is not more widely available.
torut, I've ordered the Deliège book (used)...thanks for the tip!
And finally, to add yet another book to these pages, this will reach me this week from Italy:
This is a reprint of Massimo Mila's mid-80's study of Maderna. Mila was probably, along with Fedele d'Amico, the most distinguished music critic in Italy in the second half of the 20th century. From the reviews I've seen, Mila's book is regarded (in Italy, at least) as
the standard bibliographic contribution to Maderna...
