Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

Started by bhodges, January 17, 2008, 09:54:31 AM

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Ken B

Quote from: jochanaan on July 04, 2014, 02:25:32 PM
That phrase could just as easily apply to Adolf Hitler! :o
JS Bach, apotheosis of ferocity?
Dowland, Flow my ferocious tears?

Karl Henning

L'après-midi d'une férocité
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Ken B


ibanezmonster


Ken B

Quote from: Greg on July 05, 2014, 07:13:56 PM
Actually, it's full of dildos.
Are you sure? I only see one.

not edward

If anyone remembers back to a few years ago when DG let people ask Boulez questions online, they might recall that it's actually Foucault's hammer....
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

7/4

Quote from: James on July 06, 2014, 07:03:11 AM
Taka Kigawa, piano
Performing Pierre Boulez's complete solo piano music


Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, New York City, New York, 10012, United States
On Monday 25 August 2014 at 18:30


sweet, probably expensive.

not edward

"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

Ken B


petrarch

Quote from: James on July 04, 2014, 03:32:44 PM
Love that one. Would like to hear it performed live one day.

I attended the Carnegie Hall performance some years ago. It works much better live than on CD, which is not surprising, as the various strands and especially those coming from the performers located around the audience are much clearer. That said, Le Marteau, which I also saw live a number of times there truly is the chef d'oeuvre.
//p
The music collection.
The hi-fi system: Esoteric X-03SE -> Pathos Logos -> Analysis Audio Amphitryon.
A view of the whole

not edward

Quote from: petrarch on July 06, 2014, 01:46:12 PM
I attended the Carnegie Hall performance some years ago. It works much better live than on CD, which is not surprising, as the various strands and especially those coming from the performers located around the audience are much clearer. That said, Le Marteau, which I also saw live a number of times there truly is the chef d'oeuvre.
Never been lucky enough to see Repons live, but I've been surprised by the difference between my reaction to Pli selon pli live (blown away by it--twice) and on CD both before and after (mostly meh and in accordance with Stravinsky's "pretty monotonous and monotonously pretty").
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

7/4


Karl Henning

Quote from: edward on July 06, 2014, 03:39:13 PM
Never been lucky enough to see Repons live, but I've been surprised by the difference between my reaction to Pli selon pli live (blown away by it--twice) and on CD both before and after (mostly meh and in accordance with Stravinsky's "pretty monotonous and monotonously pretty").

If it happened twice, it can be no fluke :)

I've not heard it live, and the piece has done a pendulum swing with me.  On last hearing, though, I thought fairly well of it.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

petrarch

Very interesting interview by Michele Dall'Ongaro, from December 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/v/RqkM5o648zI
//p
The music collection.
The hi-fi system: Esoteric X-03SE -> Pathos Logos -> Analysis Audio Amphitryon.
A view of the whole

Mandryka

Thanks, I've listened to about half of it. It made me wonder whether Cage had ever said anything about Boulez's later music. Of course, Cage was dead when Boulez gave that interview, so that makes a difference.

I was interested to hear about how modern music was infused with trans-national, European, values, partly because I've been reading some things Furtwangler wrote about Brahms, and that comes from the opposite point of view (Brahms good because he captures the essence of German Volk culture.) Also that brief mention of the importance of radio stations for giving people the chance to hear new music,mI wonder what he was thinking of. Radio 3 (The Third Programme I think it was called)  and France Musique - or were there pirate classical music radio stations?

Anyway for the links between music, freedom, Nazis, fall of communism - it's been interesting to hear him.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

EigenUser

Quote from: Mandryka on August 03, 2014, 08:07:45 AM
Thanks, I've listened to about half of it. It made me wonder whether Cage had ever said anything about Boulez's later music. Of course, Cage was dead when Boulez gave that interview, so that makes a difference.

I was interested to hear about how modern music was infused with trans-national, European, values, partly because I've been reading some things Furtwangler wrote about Brahms, and that comes from the opposite point of view (Brahms good because he captures the essence of German Volk culture.) Also that brief mention of the importance of radio stations for giving people the chance to hear new music,mI wonder what he was thinking of. Radio 3 (The Third Programme I think it was called)  and France Musique - or were there pirate classical music radio stations?

Anyway for the links between music, freedom, Nazis, fall of communism - it's been interesting to hear him.
There was an interview where he discussed Cage and I found it interesting that Boulez thought highly of him, at least for a time. Cage even let him stay in his NYC apartment while Boulez was there! They did have a turbulent friendship later, but who didn't have a turbulent relationship with Boulez :D?

That has kept me from totally dismissing Cage's music. Perhaps there is much there and maybe I'll find it later on.
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

Ken B

Quote from: EigenUser on August 03, 2014, 10:07:16 AM
but who didn't have a turbulent relationship with Boulez :D?


The ones he spat on from the get-go.

As for Cage, get Berman's prepared piano discs on Naxos. Really.

North Star

#577
Quote from: EigenUser on August 03, 2014, 10:07:16 AM
There was an interview where he discussed Cage and I found it interesting that Boulez thought highly of him, at least for a time. Cage even let him stay in his NYC apartment while Boulez was there! They did have a turbulent friendship later, but who didn't have a turbulent relationship with Boulez :D?

That has kept me from totally dismissing Cage's music. Perhaps there is much there and maybe I'll find it later on.
Have you tried Sonatas & Interludes ?
E: I notice Ken already recommended it. :)
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

petrarch

Quote from: EigenUser on August 03, 2014, 10:07:16 AM
There was an interview where he discussed Cage and I found it interesting that Boulez thought highly of him, at least for a time. Cage even let him stay in his NYC apartment while Boulez was there!

They were good friends and enthusiastically helped one another in getting their music known across the Atlantic. Cage also visited Boulez in Paris and circulated among Boulez's close friends.

The 'fall out' (if you can call it that) occurs when their view of music and art diverges. Arguably, Cage explored the very foundations of the perception of art and the boundary between art and life, and it became too esoteric for Boulez's vision of precision and critical thought.
//p
The music collection.
The hi-fi system: Esoteric X-03SE -> Pathos Logos -> Analysis Audio Amphitryon.
A view of the whole

Ken B

Quote from: petrarch on August 03, 2014, 10:35:09 AM
They were good friends and enthusiastically helped one another in getting their music known across the Atlantic. Cage also visited Boulez in Paris and circulated among Boulez's close friends.

The 'fall out' (if you can call it that) occurs when their view of music and art diverges. Arguably, Cage explored the very foundations of the perception of art and the boundary between art and life, and it became too esoteric for Boulez's vision of precision and critical thought.
Or a rival.