Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

[Octave]

Thanks for that heads up, James; I agree that would seem to be a disappointment.  Notice that as of this moment discs 7 and 8 have not been listed at all, similar to the omissions in the listings for the big Abbado box (which listings have now apparently been added).  I only glanced over the contents, but based on the running times of some of these discs, quite a bit more material could have been added. 

[Karl Henning]

. . . Notice that as of this moment discs 7 and 8 have not been listed at all . . . . 

Works-in-progress

[snyprrr]

They have incl. 7 & 8 now .. hodge-podge of erato/warner, sony & dg .. plus the live recording of Notations from 2007 .. I still don't see Livre pour Cordes for string orchestra or the recently 2012 expanded/revised SQ version.

CD 7: Pierre Boulez: Oeuvres complètes
Cummings ist der Dichter
Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna
Messagequisse
Notations
Memoriale ( explosante fixe . Originel)

CD 8: Pierre Boulez: Oeuvres complètes
... explosante-fixe ...
Anthèmes 2

Ick, it's all the cds we already have, all jumbled up. Oh, thanks, I needed someone to re-Track all the cds so I could have....

aaaAAAARRrRrgGgghHHHHH stupid stupid

[CRCulver]

Has Improvisé pour le Dr Kalmus been released before? That's the only Boulez piece that I have not heard. I'm pretty disappointed by this box set now, and own almost all of it. If I could just get Improvisé somewhere, I'd be happy.

[snyprrr]

Yea, I just need to hate on this Box a little more. I'm actually having black fantasies that it's going to be light and flimsy, with crappy notes. A Box HAS to have the impression of heft. Still, 13 cds, must weigh something, haha!

But it's just the mish-mashiness of it. I would just rather have what we already have. Boulez is Dead.

[snyprrr]

I WOULD start an RIP BOULEZ Thread, but I'm not feeling all that provocative this morning.

But I would

[snyprrr]

LOVE TO HATE BOULEZ.COM

So I pulled out the old Sony recording of Ritual, In Memoriam Bruno Maderna. My first thought is, what an odd duck of a piece. Perhaps it sounds like an atheist Chronochromie? Anyhow, of course it's an odd, clangorous, lyrical, very deliberate and ritualistic sounding, as only Boulez could sound ritualistic.

My main point is that I was like, WHERE'S the awesome DG recording of this, or the other pieces on the disc, or PFD? As I was listening to the wonderful, yet old, recording, I could only imagine what it would sound like in a full modern spectacular. That Boulez never saw fit to revisit this piece makes me feel even less about the Box. The percussion should have been chosen over a five year period (not that the Sony is bad in any way,... I can just hear a 'dream' version in my head).

Eclat, also, is a very crystalline work that could have benfitted from an awesome DG exercise. It was so short I practically missed it, and didn't make it into Multiples.

Anyhow, I HAVE been enjoying a Boulez retrospective, now that it seems we have what we have.

[CRCulver]

So I pulled out the old Sony recording of Ritual, In Memoriam Bruno Maderna. My first thought is, what an odd duck of a piece. Perhaps it sounds like an atheist Chronochromie? Anyhow, of course it's an odd, clangorous, lyrical, very deliberate and ritualistic sounding, as only Boulez could sound ritualistic. My main point is that I was like, WHERE'S the awesome DG recording of this, or the other pieces on the disc, or PFD?

David Robertson conducted Rituel on a Naïve disc a decade or so ago (along with the Notations for orchestra and Figures-Doubles-Prismes). He seems to have been coached by Boulez in making the recording. I think that's the best we'll ever get.

[snyprrr]

Pli Selon Pli

I know I'm raggin' on Boulez a lot, but I pulled out 'Pli selon pli' (Erato), and, wow, it's such a wonderfully desolate score, huge and ritualistic, with a manner of plucked mandolins (I'm assuming) and such. It almost has the feel of a very 'neat' Xenakis score from the '60s, feeling ancient and modern at the same time. The feeling of being in a vast, overgrown ruin is palpable to this listener.

Whenever I start getting down on Boulez, I need to go for his 'early' works, haha!

[Karl Henning]

Pli selon pli is wonderful. Hm, I need to give that another spin soon . . . .

[not edward]

Saw Boulez was in the recent BBC film The Sound and the Fury: A Century of Modern Music (2013) and he wears dark shades throughout .. but you can see enough through them to notice that his eyes are suffering bad. I wondered if he's able to see at all.

One can hope that this was filmed shortly after he had eye surgery last year & that this is the major reason.

[Joaquimhock]

One can hope that this was filmed shortly after he had eye surgery last year & that this is the major reason.

He looks quite healthy for an 88 years old man on this recent picture: https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/971568_10151643349560857_1557207331_n.jpg

[Parsifal]

Here's a rare recording of Boulez works not conducted by Boulez.

[asin]B006CC9GW8[/asin]

So far have listened to Memoriale (for solo flute and 8 instruments) and Derive I.  Memoriale, in particular, made a very strong impression.  A sequence of disjointed melodic fragments from flute with accompaniment by the rest of the ensemble which ranges from murmuring, the chattering, to caterwauling.  Fascinating.  Derive I was also interesting, but less vivid.  Going on the Derive II.

[Parsifal]

Listened to the flute and piano sonata, and Piano Sonata No 1 from this disc.


Wonderfully engaging music.  I am tending to agree with the now departed Philo that the piano music is the best of Boulez.

[Joaquimhock]

Here's a recent interview (in French) where he says he finally decided to place his composition work before his conducting work, but he adds "Cela est arrivé un peu tard, certes' (it's a little bit late).

He's working on Notation VIII...

At ther end he says that he's absolutely not optimistic about the place of classical music in society nowadays, even in Germany...


http://brunoserrou.blogspot.be/2013/06/entretien-avec-pierre-boulez-le-coffret.html

[Karl Henning]

The creators of classical music must now pursue their passion without the luxury of optimism. Pierre should count his numerous circumstantial blessings.

[snyprrr]

The creators of classical music must now pursue their passion without the luxury of optimism. Pierre should count his numerous circumstantial blessings.

And Soon the Purges!!

The NSA Opera!

Perhaps soon we too will have the opportunity to...

...nevermind ... sleepy..

[7/4]

Pierre Boulez Breaks His Shoulder, Cancels in Lucerne
August, 2013
WQXR Staff

The conductor Pierre Boulez has cancelled concerts on Sept. 7 and 9
at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland as the result of a broken
shoulder. A festival spokesman declined to say how the injury
occurred, or for how long he will be sidelined.

Get well soon!

At 88!

[Joaquimhock]

A new pieno work by Boulez has just been premiered in Strasbourg. It's called "Esquisse d'une ébauche" and it lasts... 30 seconds... 

http://lafleurdudimanche.blogspot.be/2013/09/musica-des-participants-de-marque.html

[not edward]

Perhaps a 'seed' for a larger work down the road? Nah, pipe dreams at Boulez's rate of creativity. Sad & frustrating there has been so little, for so long. Still no Anthèmes III etc., etc.

I saw some reference to Anthèmes III in an interview a few months back in which he said (paraphrasing from memory) "it's probably too late now."

Which is a very sad thing to hear someone say... sometimes I get the impression that behind the often aggressive exterior is a man almost intellectually crippled by perfectionism and lack of self-belief (it's now nearly 60 years since Marteau and since then almost every major work has been repeatedly revised or left incomplete).