Anthèms 2

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
To see the future of classical music, just look to the projects of Pierre Boulez. Whether conducting Bruckner, Mahler, or one of his own compositions, he continues to surprise, embellish, and reinvent the shape of music today. Sur Incises gathers three Boulez works that each focus, at least in part, on a singular instrument. The world-premiere title track uses three pianos, three harps, and three percussionists to create a dense, atonal, but very pianistic universe of sound. On repeated listenings, the abstract piece becomes more rewarding; you eventually pick up on Boulez's keen eye for tonal colors and shadings. On Anthemes 2, the piercing sounds of Hai-Sun Kang's violin are sampled, manipulated, and relayed back to her via electronics. Here, you won't find the lush Impressionism that Boulez hints at with Sur Incises, but you will find a fascinating interplay between organic and synthetic sounds. Messagesquisse for six cellos achieves similar results; the solo cello of Jean-Guihen Queyras is echoed and hinted at by five other cellists. As on their acclaimed recording of the composer's Répons, the Ensemble InterContemporain sets a high standard for these works, and DG does an excellent job with the recorded sound. These pieces may lack some of the musical magic of Repons, but they're no less fascinating. --Jason Verlinde

Boulez: Sur Incises/Messagesquisse/Anthèms 2, Music, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez, Cello Concerto, Chamber, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Concerto, Mixed Chamber Ensemble with Keyboard, Music for Tape/Electronics and Live Performer(s), Orchestral & Symphonic

Boulez: Sur Incises/Messagesquisse/Anthèms 2
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Three recent works that show that Boulez can engage and thrill

glamourous stuff....like models walking down the catwalk

relentless (Sur Incises) and enchanting (Anthemes 2)

even the country folk can love bou-lez

Laissez les bons temps Boulez!

Boulez: Sur Incises/Messagesquisse/Anthèms 2

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

All Works by Boulez | Boulez, Pierre | ( B ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Concertos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
Cello | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
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Boulez: ...Explosante-fixe...

Boulez conducts Boulez

Boulez: Pli selon Pli

Boulez: The Three Piano Sonatas

ASIN: B00004XPU4
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Sur Inceses: Moment I
Sur Inceses: Moment II
Messagesquisse: Tres lent
Messagesquisse: Tres rapide
Messagesquisse: Sans tempo, libre
Messagesquisse: Aussi rapide que possible
Anthemes 2: Libre
Anthemes 2: I. Tres lent, avec beaucoup de flexiblite - Libre
Anthemes 2: II. Rapide, dynamique, tres rythmique, rigide - Libre
Anthemes 2: III. Lent, regulier - Nerveux, irregulier - Libre
Anthemes 2: IV. Agite, instable - Libre
Anthemes 2: V. Tres lent, avec beaucoup de flexibilite - Subitement nerveux et extremement irregulier - Libre
Anthemes 2: VI. 1. Allant, assez serre dans le tempo
Anthemes 2: VI. 2. Calme, regulier - Agite - Brusque
Anthemes 2: VI. 3. Calme, sans trainer, d'un mouvement tres regulier - Libre

Amazon.com

To see the future of classical music, just look to the projects of Pierre Boulez. Whether conducting Bruckner, Mahler, or one of his own compositions, he continues to surprise, embellish, and reinvent the shape of music today. Sur Incises gathers three Boulez works that each focus, at least in part, on a singular instrument. The world-premiere title track uses three pianos, three harps, and three percussionists to create a dense, atonal, but very pianistic universe of sound. On repeated listenings, the abstract piece becomes more rewarding; you eventually pick up on Boulez's keen eye for tonal colors and shadings. On Anthemes 2, the piercing sounds of Hai-Sun Kang's violin are sampled, manipulated, and relayed back to her via electronics. Here, you won't find the lush Impressionism that Boulez hints at with Sur Incises, but you will find a fascinating interplay between organic and synthetic sounds. Messagesquisse for six cellos achieves similar results; the solo cello of Jean-Guihen Queyras is echoed and hinted at by five other cellists. As on their acclaimed recording of the composer's Répons, the Ensemble InterContemporain sets a high standard for these works, and DG does an excellent job with the recorded sound. These pieces may lack some of the musical magic of Repons, but they're no less fascinating. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

Three recent works that show that Boulez can engage and thrill.......2006-06-06

This Deutsche Grammaphon disc, part of the "20/21" series of contemporary music recordings, contains three pieces by Pierre Boulez from the last quarter of the 20th century. Boulez's recent expansions of his venerable pieces from the 1950s ("Le Marteu Sans Maitre") and 1960s ("Pli Selon Pli") are increasingly overlong and plodding, but from this disc it's clear that the fresh pieces he's written lately are full of great energy and momentum, alongside the gorgeous warmth of mid-frequency sounds that has always been a hallmark of Boulez's art. This music uses all twelve tones, but it is never "dissonant", its formal scheme may be too complicated for some to grasp completely, but it's never noisy.

"Sur Incises" (1996/1998) for three pianos, three harps, and three percussion instruments is a two-movement expansion of Boulez's earlier "Incises" for solo piano. He had considered writing a piano concerto, but was frustrated that most of the orchestra can't match the piano's speed. So, in a nod to Stravinsky's "Les Noces", he added two more pianos, and brought in instruments which can mirror certain qualities of the piano. The form of the music consists of alternating tempos, one slow and meditative where one instrument often takes a spotlight while others accompany, the other wild and energetic where all nine instruments compete virgourously. "Sur Incises" requires great virtuosity, and is surely one of the most challenging pieces of contemporary music. The soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain handle it flawlessly. All in all, a fantastic piece. No wonder it won the Grawemeyer Award in 2001. I should mention that if you really dig "Sur Incises", there's a recent DVD in the Juxtapositions series that contains a very layman-friendly lecture by Boulez on the piece, as well as a complete performance by the same soloists as here.

"Messagequisse" for seven cellos (1977) dates from two decades before either of the other two pieces on this disc, but fits in very well here. Written for a solo cello backed up with a small cello ensemble, the piece begins with a slow mournful melody played on the primary cello with pizzicato accompaniment by the others. A very furiously bowed section follows, a contrast with much the same effect as in "Sur Incises". My only complaint is that it's a short piece, and it's really over before one has much time to come to grips with its intriguing soundworld. The following "Anthemes 2" for violin and electronics (1997) is much longer, an electronic expansion of a work originalyl for violin solo. In much the same way as Nono's "La lontanza...", here we have a violinist played against himself, and the direct "realness" of the living soloist stands in eerie opposition to the electronic sound. There's no ultimate form here, rather the work consists of a series of brief episodes, but each new exploration follows the last in a harmonious manner. For some reason, I'm especially tempted to compare this work to Unsuk Chin's "Xi" for electronics, but there's a much more human touch.

Along with the wild flute concerto "...explosante-fixe...", available on another DG disc, the material here makes for a great introduction to Boulez. If you've heard that he's only a snobbish intellectual who doesn't understand the concept of fun, these pieces will quickly show you that his art is entirely in tune with a desire to rock out.

glamourous stuff....like models walking down the catwalk.......2006-05-13

'sur incises' is a colouristic tour de force:twangy harps adding bite to the numerous toccata passages and unearthly steel drums amid the dying resonances of piano chords:it's all glamorous stuff,springing from the highly ornamented tradtion of french music (couperin)mixed with impressionism and the cooler waters of Webern for the final twist.Boulez once derided Shostakovich as being like a third pressing of Mahler and i kind of know where he's coming from when listening to this disc of his own work (it takes one to know one!)
Still,there's plenty to enjoy here though i prefer the works from the 60's when the rhythmical language was less straightjacketed and formally irregular.

relentless (Sur Incises) and enchanting (Anthemes 2).......2005-03-20

I confess that I am not the most pianistically inclined of modern music fans. I can appreciate piano works, of course, it's not all or nothing (Ligeti's Etudes are fantastic, for instance, see my 6/11/03 review of Aimard's performance), I just have a clear preference for the timbre of strings. So I'm sure that is part of the explanation for why, as with Boulez's piano sonatas and "Structures," it's an uphill struggle for me to really engage with "Sur Incises" (1996/98) for 3 pianos, 3 harps and 3 vibraphones. It is a relentless work of pounding constructivism, and it is one of those pieces that I can respect but cannot love.

Fortunately this disc, which includes what are still the two most recent Boulez compositions to be recorded (along with "Messagesquisse" for 6 cellos from 1977), also includes "Anthemes 2" (1997) for solo violin and electronics. Performed by Hae-Sun Kang with Andrew Gerzso on IRCAM electronics, I find it to be one of Boulez's better pieces. As with "Dialogue" for clarinet and electronic double that follows "Repons" on the 1998 DG disc (see my 7/13/01 review), I prefer the minor work to the major.

Is it perhaps the case that Boulez has an under-utilized talent for the concerto form? Certainly "...explosante-fixe...", an electro-acoustic flute concerto, is one of his best works (see my 3/19/05 review). Apparently he is working on an "Anthemes 3" which will be a violin concerto for Ann-Sophie Mutter -- I look forward to it wholeheartedly!

even the country folk can love bou-lez.......2005-01-12

Okay, if you haven't had a chance to see it, the anonymous comedian has also reviewed Repons, so it's worth checking out. Just wanted to clear a few things though....

First, although the mock-country talk was really cute (including the walmart cut-out thing), it is really hard to imagine that everyone who loves this music is really lacking in sophistication. In fact, coming from a region of the country where, well how can I put it, people speak that way, I find it sort of insulting to hear it aped by such an obvious pseudo-intellectual.

The music is really quite beautiful, and probably the most easily accessible of Boulez's compositions (it would be, along with Maitre sans Marteau, the piece I would recommend to new listeners). It is not as long or ambient as Pli Selon Pli or Repons, and it really doesn't take long to appreciate the logic of the instrumentation (Percussion imitating pianos). It's also a very accessible example of the 12 tone serial music of the twentieth century, so if you're curious about music after Mahler, you won't be disappointed. And as far as it sounding like day dreams before you nod off, it's probably going to require a little more effort than dreaming.

Also, the humorous attempt at a country pronunciation of Boulez (Boulay) is an interesting misnomer--it's attempting to idiotize the pronunciation of a name that he is already mispronouncing (Boul-ez, just like it's written, not 'Ay' like 'chez'--oh and your French is lacking. What is 'let the good times' supposed to mean?)

Laissez les bons temps Boulez!.......2004-05-19

found this sucker in the cutout ben at Walmart right next to the greatest hits of 1720. well this music by mister boulay sounds like it could have be written in 19!20! i really like it how it sounds like a jesus rainbow at times. sometimes it reminds me of my daydreams right before I nod off.

I definately recommend this and yule like the cool picture of the slinky on the front cover.

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