Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

[Mandryka]

The AFAIK first (or at least, first major) biography of Pierre Boulez to be written after his death will be released--in French--by Fayard on October 2:

[asin]2213704929[/asin]

This is the publisher's blurb (originally in French):

"Adored or hated, Pierre Boulez spent his life dividing minds into two irreconcilable camps. A visionary and spearhead of modernity for some, a dictator who imposed a single aesthetic by reign terror for others, few artists have polarized and even hysterized the French musical life so much. And this since  immediately after the war, when he gave himself the mission to introduce the avant-garde in a France he deemed retrograde and ossified at the time. He was an extraordinary musician, at the same time creator, performer, intellectual and man of action, to the point of sometimes giving the impression of leading several lives in one.

Three years after his death, it was time to return serenely to the nine decades of this multiple existence: the composer, the conductor, the thinker, the founder of institutions are assessed in this biography, for which hitherto unpublished archives were accessed. We enter the scenes of his battles (the Domaine Musical, IRCAM, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Opéra Bastille, the Cité de la Musique, the Philharmonie de Paris). We see him renewing the technique and function of the conductor, while extending his influence on cultural policy. We follow him to every continent, in the greatest halls and the most prestigious festivals. We also try to give an introduction to his music, which does not fully reveal itself in a single listening. But above all, this book has set itself the goal of better understanding the complex and secret personality of the man who has worked hard to erase his tracks, resolutely maintaining an unusual gap between his public image of a cerebral sectarian, and the generous, emotional and hypersensitive private man."

Author Christian Merlin (born 1964 - Wikipedia article) has several books on music (mainly opera) to his credit. From what I see, I would expect this to be a "conventional" biography of Boulez , rather than a musicological treatise. Interestingly, publishers Fayard also have one of the standard books on Boulez in their catalogue, written by Dominque Jamieux. This earlier book stops in the mid-80s and is rather technical, making it less accessible to the general public.

Have you read it? If so, care to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5?

[ritter]

Have you read it? If so, care to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5?

I haven't read it complete, but rather skimmed through it. The impression is of a well-researched book, comprehensively covering the different aspects of Boulez's work throughout his long life, and providing a balanced portrait of a man who was always very protective of his private life (to the extent of giving the impression he had no private life at all). The discussins of his compositions are accessible to the layman.

So, cant rate it on a scale 1 to 5 (at least yet), but this is a valuable addition the the bibliography on PB.

[Mandryka]

I haven't read it complete, but rather skimmed through it. The impression is of a well-researched book, comprehensively covering the different aspects of Boulez's work throughout his long life, and providing a balanced portrait of a man who was always very protective of his private life (to the extent of giving the impression he had no private life at all). The discussins of his compositions are accessible to the layman.

So, cant rate it on a scale 1 to 5 (at least yet), but this is a valuable addition the the bibliography on PB.

So let me ask a test question, which you may or may not feel like answering.

If I buy it will the book help me understand exactly what the impact of Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard  was on Boulez -- or will it just tell me that he read it and liked it and said it influenced him in some unspecific way?

[petrarch]

So let me ask a test question, which you may or may not feel like answering.

If I buy it will the book help me understand exactly what the impact of Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard  was on Boulez -- or will it just tell me that he read it and liked it and said it influenced him in some unspecific way?

I heartily recommend the following for that sort of angle:

[asin]1107687233[/asin]

I have the Merlin biography but haven't delved into it yet.

[Mandryka]

I heartily recommend the following for that sort of angle:

[asin]1107687233[/asin]

I have the Merlin biography but haven't delved into it yet.

Thanks, I've ordered it.

Mallarmé is a real stumbling block for me, and despite several efforts I have made very little progress with his late writing,

[ritter]

So let me ask a test question, which you may or may not feel like answering.

If I buy it will the book help me understand exactly what the impact of Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard  was on Boulez -- or will it just tell me that he read it and liked it and said it influenced him in some unspecific way?

I've taken a cursory look at Merlin's book, and it doesn't seem to delve that much into the impact of Mallarmé on PB, although the matter does get a mention (particularly in pages 157-58, in relation to the Troisième sonate).

The book petrarch mentions also deals with the issue, but perhaps where it is analysed in greatest detail is in Dominique Jameux's book:

[asin]2213010773[/asin]
The title of chapter 6  is "Belle marquise, vos beaux yeux - De l'œuvre ouverte au « Livre » de Mallarmé".

What really had a tremendous impact on Boulez, even more than Un coup de dés I'd say, was Mallarmé's unfinished (or rather, unfinishable) Livre, the drafts of which were edited by Jacques Scherer and published by Gallimard in 1957. Boulez presented a copy to Stravinsky—at the time of the Parisian Threni debacle IIRC, and the adoption of "open" forms in the Troisième sonate is believed by some to have been a result of reading that Livre.

Unfortunately, the Scherer edition of Mallarmé's Livre has been OOP for decades, and secondhand copies are not easy to find (I got hold of one at an affordable price not too long ago, but still haven't read it—it does seem rather daunting).

[petrarch]

The Jameux book is indeed worth having, and going over that chapter makes me realize all roads unavoidably lead to Alea and to Sonate, que me veux-tu? to get to the source of so much commentary--although the articles can be a bit elliptical.

[petrarch]

Mallarmé is a real stumbling block for me, and despite several efforts I have made very little progress with his late writing,

For an interesting take, a sort of reverse analysis, the closing chapter in this book analyses Mallarmé's own relationship with music, and how it influenced his writing:

[asin]2940068232[/asin]

[Mandryka]

For an interesting take, a sort of reverse analysis, the closing chapter in this book analyses Mallarmé's own relationship with music, and how it influenced his writing:

[asin]2940068232[/asin]

I've got the Contrechamps book. The whole thing  needs time, it's hard.

As far as I can see a key paper in this by Boulez is  Sonata, que me veux-tu?

[Mandryka]

I heartily recommend the following for that sort of angle:

[asin]1107687233[/asin]

I have the Merlin biography but haven't delved into it yet.

So re Mallarme (sorry -- I don't know how to do accents on this keyboard) we read

Ivanka Stoianova has discussed the link between Boulez's Third Sonata and Mallarme's Livre and mobile poetry in terms of Deleuzian difference and repetition.' Scherer reveals to us Mallarme's desire for identity in the Livre at the global level and within each of its component parts, such as the page and volume, in order to ensure a certain architectural order.' views Mallarme's quest for unity and identity in the light of the Deleuzian concept of difference, and she observes that the Livre's 'permutational technique' generates 'multiple meanings from "the same equation": In Mallarme's poetry, words cease to operate in conventional ways and function through a kind of mutual reflection, whereby each word no longer has its own colour. The continual realignment and 'reciprocal reflections of the syllables, words, lines, pages and volumes' results instead in the creation of a `universe of multiple meanings. Difference is thus charged with making the `multidirectional' Mallarmean text operate through the plurality of meanings engendered by its 'intersecting currents of thought. Identity in the Livre is to be understood in the identity of the structural principles which operate within it at different levels. This constitutes a 'profound identity' within which repetition functions as a play of difference, resulting in the multidirectional possibilities which constitute the work. Stoianova believes that Boulez's Third Sonata realises, within music, a similar 'profound identity' and play of repetition as difference.

I don't know anything about Deleuze; I haven't got a copy of Stoianova's Geste Texte Musique though I can see an affordable one -- is it readable out of the context of a university class?; In some very informal and half baked way I can imagine that Mallarme does indeed create meanings through "intersecting currents of thought" -- but I wouldn't like to argue for it in a graduate class at Normale Sup.

Is this post me waving or me drowning? I'm now going to soothe my nerves with a Mozart piano sonata.

[vers la flamme]

I want to say thanks to Mandryka for recommending this CD

[asin]B000LPRNVS[/asin]

Excellent Bach, excellent Boulez. I like it much better than the Aimard recording of Notations that I also have. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. One might think of it as a relatively easy introduction to Boulez's music.

[Mandryka]

I'm glad you enjoyed the Fray, though I think that Aimard is very good too, in a different way.

I've been listening to the sonatine in this early recording, helped very much by Boulez's description of what he was doing in his Collège de France lectures. In fact, I think the form of the music, with its juxtaposition of thematic sections and free fantasy, is like a baroque keyboard Toccata (eg Buxtehude) - but Bouulez transcends that towards the end - the end of this music is just fabulous!

[Mandryka]

I want to say thanks to Mandryka for recommending this CD

[asin]B000LPRNVS[/asin]

Excellent Bach, excellent Boulez. I like it much better than the Aimard recording of Notations that I also have. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. One might think of it as a relatively easy introduction to Boulez's music.

By the way, if you enjoy the Fray Notations, then maybe have a listen to Loriod's Webern variations here, she's similarly eloquent I think, she has a way of making the music very easy to follow,

[vers la flamme]

^That sounds awesome. I'll have to check it out. I have been listening to Idil Biret and Maurizio Pollini play the Webern Variations lately. Both very different from each other, both very good.

[Mandryka]

By the way, if you enjoy the Fray Notations, then maybe have a listen to Loriod's Webern variations here, she's similarly eloquent I think, she has a way of making the music very easy to follow,

And the same for the first movement of the second sonata. Edward Campbell claims that this is a conceptual piece to this extent: the music is structured by the repetition of the opening four note theme, but it's all is too dense and complex for all of that to be perceived through listening. Lloriod's response is to really slow the movement down to render the thematic material more visible. Maybe she overdoes it, and maybe Campbell's claim is exaggerated anyway, I don't know.

[vers la flamme]

And the same for the first movement of the second sonata. Edward Campbell claims that this is a conceptual piece to this extent: the music is structured by the repetition of the opening four note theme, but it's all is too dense and complex for all of that to be perceived through listening. Lloriod's response is to really slow the movement down to render the thematic material more visible. Maybe she overdoes it, and maybe Campbell's claim is exaggerated anyway, I don't know.

Doesn't the story go that when the young Loriod was presented with the score of this second Boulez sonata, she burst into tears at its insane complexity and difficulty, afraid that she wouldn't be able to pull it off? Or am I thinking of a different pianist...

[Mirror Image]

I just want to stop by here and say that I'm now a Boulez convert. I didn't think it would happen, but here's something deeply alluring about his music that I simply couldn't turn the volume down. I haven't even tipped the iceberg of his oeuvre yet, but I have to say I haven't been disappointed yet. The only work I've heard that I didn't really like, but it wasn't bad was Livre pour quatuor and this is only because I thought Webern did it better. But the works I've heard with either solo piano, various ensembles, etc. have been quite fine and fascinating listens.

[Mandryka]

I just want to stop by here and say that I'm not a Boulez convert. I didn't think it would happen, but here's something deeply alluring about his music that I simply couldn't turn the volume down. I haven't even tipped the iceberg of his oeuvre yet, but I have to say I haven't been disappointed yet. The only work I've heard that I didn't really like, but it wasn't bad was  and this is only because I thought Webern did it better. But the works I've heard with either solo piano, various ensembles, etc. have been quite fine and fascinating listens.

Boulez had serious reservations about Livre pour quatuor, that's why he reworked it considerably, in fact he was working on it as late as 2013.

[Mirror Image]

Boulez had serious reservations about Livre pour quatuor, that's why he reworked it considerably, in fact he was working on it as late as 2013.

He revised many of his works throughout his life.

[ritter]

I just want to stop by here and say that I'm not a Boulez convert.

"not a Boulez convert" or "now a Boulez convert", John? 

Be it as it may, I'm glad you're finding enjoyment and things to admire in Boulez's music. You know how partial I am to his music, which IMHO is one of the pinnacles of music as an art form.