Boulez: Pli selon Pli

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Pli Selon Pli (Fold by Fold) is a portrait of Mallarmé, whose poems are set in fragmented fashion throughout the work's five movements, which Boulez rewrote and added to until they assumed final form in 1989. His 1969 Sony recording had an icy, frozen surface and a general air of impenetrability. Age may have mellowed the maestro, for this version, while still challenging, is more accessible. Textures are more finely drawn; the delicate colorations of winds and plucked instruments, including a mandolin, are more sensuous; and a traditional French sensibility is more obvious. The singer, soprano Christine Schäfer, is more communicative, too: her high notes are smoothly produced, her lines seamlessly woven into the orchestral fabric. The voice is effectively an instrumental line in the work's structure, and texts are fragmented into discrete words and syllables. For all their importance, they occupy a relatively limited portion of the piece's 70 minutes. The crack instrumentalists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain are masters of Boulez's style, and it's hard to imagine a better performance of this modernist milestone. --Dan Davis

Boulez: Pli selon Pli, Music, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain, Christine Schäfer, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Solo Voice(s) and Orchestra, Vocal

Pierre Boulez: Pli selon pli; Livre pour cordes
Average customer rating:

Now this is a bold statement, but what the hell

Two classic performances of somewhat lesser works

a sharper-edged version

Mallarme never had it so good

A masterpiece...

Pierre Boulez: Pli selon pli; Livre pour cordes

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000002C06
Release Date: 1995-12-05

Tracks:

Fold By Fold: Based On Poems By Stephane Mallarme: I. Don
Fold By Fold: Based On Poems By Stephane Mallarme: II. Improvisation sur Mallarme I
Fold By Fold: Based On Poems By Stephane Mallarme: III. Improvisation sur Mallarme II
Fold By Fold: Based On Poems By Stephane Mallarme: IV. Improvisation sur Mallarme III
Fold By Fold: Based On Poems By Stephane Mallarme: V. Tombeau
Book For Strings: 1a. Variation
Book For Strings: 1b. Mouvement

Customer Reviews:

Now this is a bold statement, but what the hell.......2006-11-01

The 1969 recording by the BBC orchestra may be one of the finest achievements of occidental music in history. At least to my ears, the final mouvement, Tombeau, gathers and devellops all the juicy experiences led by this seminal dodecaphonic author during his most radical years (such as Structures pour deux pianos or Polyphonie X) adding them an extra layer of visionnary new sound poetry based on an amalgam of shimmering percussion sounds (as the ones found to a certain extent in gammelan orchestras from the island of Bali or the music of the great Olivier Messiaen, his teacher in composition), certain oriental evocative manierisms, a devellopment of the sprechgesang concept introduced by Schoenberg and an overwhelming sense of color and distribution of orchestral action in the score. I think Boulez has some kind of fascination with the matter of controlled overexcitement, or controlled madness to put it in some fashion that finds in Tombeau its final resolution, it's most ambitious cristallisation. The musical materials seem to have a life of their own, to breath, to copulate and generate new materials in a natural, almost darwinian way.This kind of highly sofisticated musical pornography would remind me of Jackson Pollock and the american neoexpressionist movement in painting if it wasn't so genuinely french in it's formal refinement and linked to Debussy's impressionism (wich by the way also used oriental spices in his scores and worked with Mallarme's texts, as in his early masterpiece L'Apres-midi d'un faune), but those are just labels that would certainly do no justice to this great modern master. In the end, what I think i love the most about this piece is it's way of reaching my guts through a delicate organization of violence and beauty that reminds me of the great, massive religious music of the past. It alters your state of mind, places you in a dimension where time seems suspended and generates an anguish and a delightment that no other artist had suspected before. It is, in fact, the fortress left by Boulez a la limite du pays fertile.

Two classic performances of somewhat lesser works.......2006-08-07

This mid-price Sony disc contains two pieces by Pierre Boulez conducted by the composer himself. In the large "Pli selon pli", he leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra with the soprano Halina Lukomska, while in the intimate "Livre pour chords" the Strings of the New Philharmonic Orchestra perform. The recordings date from 1969 and 1968, respectively, but the sound is suprisingly clear and vast. Both of the works were unfinished at the time of recording, and have a somewhat complicated lineage.

"Pli selon pli" for soprano and orchestra is a lengthy setting of poems by Stephane Mallarme, whose idea of a work in "perpetual expansion" preoccupied Boulez for much of the 1950s. The work grew in stages. It began first with three "Improvisations sur Mallarme" for voice and small ensemble in 1958 and 1959. Then a grim end, "Tombeau" for large orchestra, was added later in 1959. Finally, in 1960 the work gained an introduction with "Don" for large orchestra, whose opening big tutti chord will sound familiar to anyone familiar with Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia" (where it's quoted in the passage "I have a present for you" *whomp*). Originally the order of many elements were left to the discretion of the conductor, a form similar to that of the Piano Sonata No. 3 and "Eclat", but Boulez ultimately fixed the parts in the order they are here.

Along with "Le Marteau Sans Maitre" of 1953-1955, "Pli selon pli" ushers out the bleep-bloops and Webern-inspired crystal sounds of early Boulez and introduces the interest in wide contrasts of timbre and the warm tones of alto range that marks all of his subsequent work. The forces of a traditional ensemble are accompanied by guitar and mandolin, and while the soprano has a decisive role, her intonations serve more as exotic instrument in the ensemble than a communicator of poetry.

Unfortunately, "Pli selon pli" is a rather unfocused work, and on its own I'd give it three stars, for certain moments drag on for far too long than they should. There are indeed moments of immense wonder here, the general exploration of the ensemble's capabilities, the soprano's wild gesticulations, and especially the grimly beautiful end, which is among Boulez's most frenetic writing. But all in all, this is not one of Boulez's best works. At least here he still conducts with a certain violence, while in his conducting of the recently revised version on a 2002 Deutsche Grammophon disc the sluggish and uninspired pace undoes the whole work. It wasn't until "Eclat" of 1965 that Boulez really joined well-paced action to these rainbow hues of sound to form the style of such great works as "Repons", "Sur Incises", and "...explosante-fixe..."

"Livre pour cordes" for string orchestra, begun in 1968, is an expansion of certain parts of his "Livre pour quatuor" string quartet. The quartet was written in 1948, around the same time as the Piano Sonata No. 2 from which it borrows material, and was quickly withdrawn. Boulez orchestrated two sections in '68, "1a Variation" and "1b Mouvement", which we hear on this recording, though it wasn't until 1989 that there was a definitive version of 1A, and there's still no clue when the whole will be complete.

"Livre pour cordes" is indeed a string quartet writ large. Boulez tries to get maximum timbre out of limited instrumentation through the contrast of pizzicato and arco, which results in a generally bubbling texture. However, the piece seems to lack direction, it's really no surprise that Boulez hasn't completed it. It remains a curiosity in his catalogue, his only piece for string orchestra (though he did write for eight cellos in "Messagesquisse" with fine results).

If you're curious about the music of Pierre Boulez, try any of his works from the last three decades. There are excellent recordings of these on Deutsche Grammophon in the "20/21" and "Echo 20/21" series. The two pieces here are of lesser interest, although this might be the best place to discover "Pli selon pli".

a sharper-edged version.......2005-08-05

In honor of Pierre Boulez's 80th birthday this year, I decided to check out this 1969 recording of "Pli Selon Pli." The 2001 recording on DG, with Boulez conducting his Ensemble Intercontemporain and soprano Christine Schafer, underwhelmed me (see my review), and I was intrigued by those who said they preferred this earlier version. It is very different, there's no doubt about that -- it's sharper-edged, no surprise as this has been the tendency of Boulez in general, to move toward a smoother, more homogenized sound, more Debussian, in his later years.

The soprano voice of Halina Lukomsa is completely different in character from Christine Schafer -- Lukomsa sings with lots of vibrato, a very mannered, very classical style, whereas Schafer's vocal line is smoother and more natural, blending more with the instrumental ensemble. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, led by Boulez, plays boldly, with instrumental voices clearly separated. Again, the 2001 version submerges the lines into the flow. Here, Paul Stingl on guitar and Hugo d'Alton on mandolin, who are given special billing, really jump out at you, while their counterparts on the 2001 recording are not accorded the same attention because they don't stand out nearly as much.

It's hard for me to say which version is better -- I have no doubt that Boulez is happier with the level of performance his own Ensemble brings, with much more practice, and more familiarity with his style and intentions than the BBCSO had back in 1969. But there is a bold, radical edge that is lost. One thing I am quite sure of, and that is that "Pli Selon Pli" was already too long at about an hour, but instead of tightening it up, Boulez was indulgent and added 10 minutes so that the recent recording is 70 minutes long. This earlier recording has the virtue of adding an additional piece, "Livre pour cordes," a superb 10-minute work for strings composed in 1968.

In general, I have found that all of the discs in this PIERRE BOULEZ series on Sony are excellent, and at a bargain price. Cumulatively they represent a treasure trove of the 20th century avant-garde.

Mallarme never had it so good.......2005-01-05

Boulez's masterpiece is "Pli selon pli," a set of five works for varying ensembles and voice.

The texts on Mallarme are set exquisitely in the inner works using beautifully angular lines and exotic, ringing, resonant instrumentation. These is a wonderful sense of spaciousness here and Boulez lets you luxuriate in his brilliant, richly painted sound colors. Although the title might suggest dense lines of counterpoint, "Pli selon pli" (and most all of Boulez's work) is more reliant on glittering explosions of sound strung together with the resonances of those explosions connecting them. This may be one of the most beautiful pieces of European avant garde.

Boulez has revised "Pli selon pli" several times (other recordings exist on Erato and DG). Each revision has seen an expansion of the instrumentation and added a smoother sheen of sound to the original. I find this regrettable. The grit and daring of the earlier versions is lost among the filigree of the revised versions. Certainly, the revisions are masterful in their orchestration and could only be produced by a musical mind as sophisticated as that of Boulez. But get the early recordings and feel your heart race with the thrill of discovery.

A masterpiece..........1999-12-04

Yes, so one's idea of a masterpiece is not someone else's idea. Nevertheless, I can't refrain myself, especially since Boulez is often depicted as all brain and no heart. How wrong! OK, so I haven't sat down with the score to do a row analysis of "Pli Selon Pli" -- but knowing Boulez's serial procedures, that might be rather impossible. But when I listen to it, I don't think of all the row forms and permutations (though I do notice a few), but rather the grand sweep, the narrative, the variety of colours and textures, the exquisite vocal writing, and most of all, the sheer beauty of this work. And yes, I did say BEAUTY! This, the Second Piano Sonata, and "Le Visage Nuptial" are my favorite Boulez works. I urge any adventurous souls to get this CD to discover one of the most striking pieces of music from this now-quickly-passing-century.

Average customer rating:

An already flawed work revised until it just falls apart
the brilliance of this piece & performance are beyond words
Brilliant Modern Song-Cycle
rarefied encrustations of text,timbre of time, and topology
"Webernish with Debussyian shimmer"

Boulez: Pli selon Pli

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000630Q9
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Tracks:

Don (Du Poeme)
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Improvisation Sur Mallarme II
Improvisation Sur Mallarme III
Tombeau

Amazon.com

Pli Selon Pli (Fold by Fold) is a portrait of Mallarmé, whose poems are set in fragmented fashion throughout the work's five movements, which Boulez rewrote and added to until they assumed final form in 1989. His 1969 Sony recording had an icy, frozen surface and a general air of impenetrability. Age may have mellowed the maestro, for this version, while still challenging, is more accessible. Textures are more finely drawn; the delicate colorations of winds and plucked instruments, including a mandolin, are more sensuous; and a traditional French sensibility is more obvious. The singer, soprano Christine Schäfer, is more communicative, too: her high notes are smoothly produced, her lines seamlessly woven into the orchestral fabric. The voice is effectively an instrumental line in the work's structure, and texts are fragmented into discrete words and syllables. For all their importance, they occupy a relatively limited portion of the piece's 70 minutes. The crack instrumentalists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain are masters of Boulez's style, and it's hard to imagine a better performance of this modernist milestone. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

An already flawed work revised until it just falls apart.......2006-08-07

Readers here are always quick to revolt against 1-star reviews of respected figures, but hear me out here. I'm a big fan of Pierre Boulez, and not a day goes by when I don't delight in some of his great works like "...explosante-fixe...", "Sur Incises", and "Repons". This disc, however, is a disaster from an otherwise heroic composer.

"Pli selon pli" for soprano and orchestra is a lengthy setting of poems by Stephane Mallarme, whose idea of a work in "perpetual expansion" preoccupied Boulez for much of the 1950s. The work grew in stages. It began first with three "Improvisations sur Mallarme" for voice and small ensemble in 1958 and 1959. Then a grim end, "Tombeau" for large orchestra, was added later in 1959. Finally, in 1960 the work gained an introduction with "Don" for large orchestra, whose opening big tutti chord will sound familiar to anyone familiar with Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia" (where it's quoted in the passage "I have a present for you" *whomp*). Originally the order of many elements were left to the discretion of the conductor, a form similar to that of the Piano Sonata No. 3 and "Eclat", but Boulez ultimately fixed the parts in the order they are here. The completed work has been revise several times since its introduction, and various versions have been recorded. This recording is of the latest revision, that of 1989.

Along with "Le Marteau Sans Maitre" of 1953-1955, "Pli selon pli" ushers out the bleep-bloops and Webern-inspired crystal sounds of early Boulez and introduces the interest in wide contrasts of timbre and the warm tones of alto range that marks all of his subsequent work. The forces of a traditional ensemble are accompanied by guitar and mandolin, and while the soprano has a decisive role, her intonations serve more as exotic instrument in the ensemble than a communicator of poetry.

Unfortunately, "Pli selon pli" is a rather unfocused work, for certain moments drag on for far too long than they should. There can indeed be moments of immense wonder here, the general exploration of the ensemble's capabilities, the soprano's wild gesticulations, and especially the grimly beautiful end, which is among Boulez's most frenetic writing. On the 1969 recording on Sony where Boulez leads the soprano Halina Lukomska and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, there's a good aggression about the performance that overcomes the sluggish parts to make for a three-star listening.

On this revised version, however, those dragging moments drag on even longer, and Boulez's conducting lacks any of the old violence. It's over an hour of extremely sluggish pacing, and the result is unlistenable. I can't believe that at the same time Boulez did this revision, he was at work on the new version of "...explosante-fixe...", one of the most wild and exuberant pieces I've ever heard.

"Pli selon pli" for me has never ranked among Boulez's best work, though at least on the Sony recording it was entertaining enough. But I can't find much good to say about this performance.

the brilliance of this piece & performance are beyond words.......2003-11-22

Most of the avant-garde music from Pierre Boulez's generation is characterized by noise & chaos, but this cd somehow resonates with such a beautiful profound sense of balance, of deliberateness, of perfect order. That doesn't mean it's melodic. I don't know how he achieves such wholeness from this music, but somehow with his great genius he surely got at the clearest, richest, most meaningful realization of the conception of the music. & I don't think it could be performed with much more acuity & depth than the Ensemble Intercontemporain has here.

Brilliant Modern Song-Cycle.......2003-07-06

Pli Selon Pli (Fold by Fold) is one of the best, if not the very best, song-cycles to come out of the 20th Century. It was written by the venerable Pierre Boulez, one of the most original and provacative living composers--also probably the greatest. Most of his works are still "in progress", and this one had a multi-decade gestation period, but it's finished now, a perfectly balanced work that begins and ends on the same definitive chord.

The great French poet Mallarme may have been shocked to hear what sort of music Boulez wrote to accompany his poems, but the word-setting, though hardly hummable, has a strange beauty all of its own, and acutally lends more melody to this work than you'll find in most atonal pieces--after all, an orchestra can play just harmony and rhythm, but a soprano can only sing a melody, no matter how large the leaps it makes. Christine Schafer dispatches Boulez's difficult lines well--she may be slightly troubled by the high note near the end, but it comes out clearly and maybe is even more convincing this way. Who wouldn't find it tough?

But, in true Boulez fashion, no matter how beguiling the vocal lines it is ultimately the orchestra which dominates. This is no tragedy, however, because in M. Boulez we have one of the master orchestraters of all time. You can see from the pictures included in the liner notes what a battery of percussion is at the disposal of the Ensemble InterContemporain, and Boulez makes good use of all of it. The shimmering sonorities are instantly attractive.

Let me qualify that: they will be attractive assuming the listener has had some experience appreciating atonal music. It would be possible to fall in love with this at first listen, but I doubt if that happens often. It took me a couple years of slowly testing the water to warm up to 12-tone music, but I'm glad I persevered. Nonetheless, my family, who have little tolerance for modern art, give me a very hard time if I listen to this on anything but my headphones. However, if you've bought this and hate it, I recommend giving it a few more chances. You might well warm up to its unusual sound-world, as I did.

Anyway, the glittering, otherworldly sonorities of this masterpiece are, as usual, played with virtuosic panache by the doyens of avant-garde orchestral works, the Ensemble InterContemporain. This orchestra was founded by Pierre Boulez, so they are his definitive interpreters and respond well to his direction. This stuff is pretty beatless, so I don't even know exactly how it would be conducted or how the players follow Boulez's beat, but he has a true rapport with the Ensemble and everything comes off with clarity and precision.

I really like this whole work, but if I don't have time to listen to all of it I'll probably hear the beginning, then head for the denouement--the final movement is all orchestral until the very end, when the single, beautifully creepy line "Un peu profond ruisseau calomine la mort" is sung (it means "A trickling stream we villify as death"). I think the orchestral part really does sound like a stream or river, but I'm not sure Boulez would appreciate me saying that. Anyway, listening to Christine Schafer sing that line, with all the altitudinous writing, then whisper "la mort", followed by the tremendous finality of the last chord, is spine-tingling and unforgettable. The end probably ranks as my favorite part.

If you're a fan of atonal works, or brilliant orchestration in general, this should be on your shelf. It will stretch your ears, but, if you're open to this repetoire, it will very likely make them tingle with delight, too.

rarefied encrustations of text,timbre of time, and topology.......2002-10-22

On February 18, 1890, Mallarme delivered a lecture in Bruges,Belgium to honor Villiers de l'Isle Adam, who died the previous year, the title "pli selon pli" occurs on the fourth line of a subsequent poem "Rememoration d'amis belges", and utilized to describe how the mist disperses gradually to reveal an architecture of the city of Bruges or a topology of an imagined space. It was such an image, a demonstrative concept that Boulez sought this creative exergue, this odyssey which has involuntarily it seems spanned his life,like a possession for timbre and the "word", the image.

The many times predictable pointillism of the vocal lines in the self-contained "Improvisations sur Mallarme" for soprano and percussion ensemble of "Improvisation sur Mallarme I" "Le vierge. . ." and, "Improvisation sur Mallarme II" "Une dentelle s'abolit",are difficult.These three"Improvisations" represent different approaches to settings of sonnets. The 'First Improvisation'(according to the interview here with Boulez) is more playful,less strict,the 'Second Improvisation', there is more direct connections between the musical imagery and the text.Yet you always feel the music, the "hanging" timbres ringing moments of vibraphone,harp and piano,i.e.the sustaining exergue are simply timbral "blankets" for the text to attach itself quite evocatively.There is a restrained sensuality in the vocal lines here throughout this work,sung so complellingly by Ms.Schafer, as if they belong to another dimension,for we become overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of instrumental colour.

I thought the rupture, the break with conventional time, that implied the innovations within the serial music was a realm Boulez sought to escape.And here the soprano has more an instrumental demeanor about it, unwilling to break from that undefined role.For aside from the Italian cadre,(Berio and Nono),serialism did not foster a wealth of works for the voice.Only with the introduction of budding electronic means did masterworks occur(as Stockhausen's "Gesang der Junglinge" and Berio's "Visage" Nono's utilization of political text(Canto sospeso" was innovative in all respects. They had their own means of escape from this structural tyranny. For serialism within a short span of time (roughly 1950 to 1959) exhausted itself. Adorno had said as much, who was around,attending concerts, and lecturing himself at Darmstadt Courses, and came to terms with these youngsters,as not being modern enough, or refusing to challenge oneself outside of technical innovation. Serial music seemed to be about itself and nothing more,and the tyranny of creative invention simply recoiled on itself with simply trying the untried, a work for three orchestras,(Stockhausen) a work with voice and percussion(Berio),or two pianos (Boulez). Serialism simply demanded new packages and products, not new content. And this was something Boulez had felt in searching fof another context, one where one needn't use all 12 tones. In the wonderful interview here with Wolfgang Fink, he says as much, "I found it unbearable to use all 12 tones. . . ".

I'm still undecided if the Five Movements here (pli selon pli) actually hang together,and imply,constitute one unified realm, even within the Boulez cognitive field of posing structural freedom of the music's discourse, its creative implications, with an'unfreedom', again something he found profoundly within Mallarme's "Livre" and concept of "alea",chance but with a conscious, controlled unfreedom, something quite different from Cage's pureposless purpose of Zen indeterminacy.The music of chance and musical graphics recall ran faster toward its demise than Boulez's aleatoricism.For instance I still find usefull,and compelling moments in Boulez's 'Third Piano Sonata', and realistically there is yet to be a definitive performance of it. Rosen's and Psi-Chein's and Claude Helffer's are all simply 'readings', and useful guides.Whereas Cage's "Music of Changes"his first focused chance extended work, I find nothing left to think through, as if the work's realization had already occured decades ago.
Boulez's first movement here in "pli selon pli" is a recitation with enormous orchestral forces. It was in 1960, where a provisional premiere had occurred, originally here a piano solo, a soprano was added based on Mallarme's "Don du poeme" and first performed in Cologne June 13, 1960. This was followed by "Improvisations" of 1957-1960, and then an incomplete version of "Tombeau". Since that time "Don" became a piece for large orchestra with voice, as an oppositional counterweight to "Tombeau". "Tombeau" itself exhibited Boulez's ongoing interest in finality ( his dedication to Maderna "Rituel" etc), accumulates itself as it unfolds, as an inevitability of time, further weighing, coaxing the materials to take on, to burden themselves with more distinctions, more internal musical references, more layers added, accreted, and diminshed,but inevitably onward moving,toward greater thresholds of complexity placing itself in a forever impacted realm of musical statement.So these two pillars"Don" and "Tombeau" were the containers for the three "Improvisations", and something I still don't feel convice. The 'Improvisations' grew as self-contained works,with pitched percussive instruments, piano, harp, celesta, crotales,vibraphone, and percussion as developed "sonnets"that drew particular attention to the single melodic line,and timbres and rarely do they suggest the orchestral forces to come.Perhaps that was the subversive element at work here,to transcend from the private instrospections(of the three "Improvisations") to the overtly theatrical with the orchestral canvas,("Don", and "Tombeau") a labyrinth.
Boulez's aesthetic sense of timeless time is remarkable where the moments always seem to float, as Mallarme's imagery of white, blanche swan, frozen and opaque does. And the musical percussive moments suggests an ambiguity, this rarefied air, are well prepared, this is what time and work over long periods renders to the Boulez aesthetic, this sense of durational telescoping this uninhabited place where only the imagination, where only jouissance in the Lacanian sense only occurs between moments, in the crevices,behind shapes and forms, as spider webs, as encrustations to the text as implications.Christine Schafer, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain gives great hard edges to this music, and Boulezian clarity is an obvious feature.

"Webernish with Debussyian shimmer".......2002-09-26

Oliver Messiaen best captured Boulez's sound world with this pithy quote -- "To his Webernish pursuits he added a bit of my rhythmic restlessness and, above all, a Debussyian shimmer." And of course if you don't like Webern, there's little chance you'll enjoy Boulez. But while Messiaen thought Boulez surpassed Webern, I don't agree. Boulez's longer works such as "Repons" and "Pli Selon Pli" begin with an interesting concept and sound, but run out of energy, a problem Webern avoided through brevity. Stravinsky was to have said of "Pli Selon Pli" that it was "pretty monotonous and monotonously pretty," which is quite apt, I'm afraid. This is, I believe, the third version of the work, which Boulez has continued to alter over the years, but presumably this is the final version. It uses a chamber orchestra (Boulez's own Ensemble Intercontemporain) rather than a full orchestra, and is smoother and more subdued than the original recording with Boulez conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1969 (still available on Sony -- see my review). Unfortunately rather than tightening up the piece, which was already too long at 60 minutes, Boulez indulgently lengthened it to 70 minutes in this 2001 recording.

I am partial to avant-garde music, but I see Boulez as being overrated in critical circles. He was an important theorist of and advocate for the Schoenberg/Webern tendency that came to be known as "serialism," yes, and even more importantly, popularized as a conductor the great works of 20th century modernism. But as a composer, it is my considered opinion that Boulez was more ambitious than accomplished.

Boulez: Pli selon Pli / Le Visage Nuptial / Notations / Sonatine / Sonate / Boulez / Barenboim

Average customer rating:

A nice box set, but reissued at budget price in Warner's Apex line
Boulez-iana Fest

Boulez: Pli selon Pli / Le Visage Nuptial / Notations / Sonatine / Sonate / Boulez / Barenboim
Pierre Boulez , Phyllis Byrn-Julson , BBC Singers , BBC Symphony Orchestra , Elizabeth Laurence , and Jeannne Marie Conquer
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Pli Selon Pli
Le Visage Nuptial
Le Soleil Des Eaux
Figures, Doubles, Prismes
Rituel
Messagesquisse
Notations
Sonatine
Premiere Sonate
Derive
Memoriale
Dialogue De L'ombre Double
Cummings Ist Der Dichter

Customer Reviews:

A nice box set, but reissued at budget price in Warner's Apex line.......2006-09-06

This Erato box set of works by Pierre Boulez covers almost every phase of his career. With the exception of the "Notations" and "Messagequisse", conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the composer himself leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra or the Ensemble Intercontemporain in the large works, and two of his favourite performers tackle the smallest works. These recordings have been reissued in Warner Classics' budget line Apex, so they come quite cheaply if you look around.

I'm not too thrilled with "Pli selon pli" (1957-1962), Boulez's grand setting of Mallarme for soprano and orchestra, as it tends to drag on. Still, at least here and on the Sony disc he still conducts with a certain violence, while in his conducting of the recently revised version on a 2002 Deutsche Grammophon disc the piece just falls apart. The Sony recording with soprano Halina Lukomsa is the more agressive, but this recording with Phyllis Bryn-Julison is more subtle, and the final movement "Don" comes across more powerfully here.

The "Sonatine" for flute and piano and the "Piano Sonata No. 1" are among Boulez's earliest acknowledged works, dating from 1946. The "Sonatine" is inspired by Schoenberg's "Chamber Symphony op. 9" in form and by Berg in its serial material, while both the "Sonatine" and the Piano Sonata find inspiration in Webern and Schoenberg for the virtuoso and "delirious" piano parts. The "Sonatine" is a rather unexciting work, I'd call it juvenalia even if Boulez thinks it worthy of preservation. However, the Piano Sonata No. 1 is a rich piece which displays new sides of itself on every listen. I quite enjoy Pierre-Laurent Aimard's performance here, it has a savagery to it unlike the methodical touch of Jumppanen or the nimbleness of Biret.

"Le Visage nuptial" (1946, final version 1988-89) and "Le Soleil des eaux" (1947, final version 1965), settings of Rene Char for soprano, mezzo-soprano, choir and ensemble, really should be more widely known, since they are among Boulez's most accessible works with their Berg-like lushness and clear dramatic qualities. This collection is one of the few places to get them, which presents a good motivation to buy it. Ditto for "cummings ist der Dichter" for mixed choir and orchestra (1970), much more experimental (even with some aleatoric writing), but a beautifully savage work of modernism.

"Figures-Doubles-Prismes" (1963/1968) was first conceived in 1957. Karlheinz Stockhausen was writing his famous piece "Gruppen" for three orchestras at the time, and Boulez was interested in the unorthodox arrangement of the performing ensemble. Boulez's own approach was to use a single orchestra but to mix its segments up, with brass and wind inside the string section, resulting in exotic combinations of timbre. The result is rather disappointing. Boulez still hasn't finished the piece in nearly a half-century, and listening to it one can immediately tell that it's still very much a sketch for something else. There's no especial difference between this and the Robertson recording on Naive.

The "Notations" for orchestra--five so far (I-IV and VII)--expansions of twelve Webern-like piano miniatures written in 1945 while Boulez was still a student--are Boulez at his best, glittering textures, powerful crescendi, exciting glissandi; it's no wonder that many orchestras (such as the CSO) regularly play one or two of them to open their concerts.Still, I'm not too impressed with Barenboim's conducting, and I'd recommend that by Robertson on Naive. Having heard some bootleg recordings of Boulez conducting, I think Robertson does better than even the composer himself, there's such a rich clarity in his work, while other conductors muddy it up.

Several other pieces here are also from Boulez's post-"Eclat" period, when he has gone from strength to strength and development music of beautiful colours and compelling action. "Derive" for small ensemble (1984) is one such piece, but it was recently re-recorded on Deutsche Grammophon in the "20/21" series with the same ensemble and conductor, and even venue, but it sounds much more "alive" there than here. "Memoriale" for flute and eight instruments is an acoustic selection from "...explosante-fixe...", Boulez's great concerto for two flutes, MIDI flute, orchestra, and electronics. The concerto is wild, but this piece isn't terribly interesting in comparison. "Dialogue de l'ombre double" for clarinet and electronics (1982-85) is best listened to on the DG disc, where the soloist is again Alain Damiens, but the recording was treated with IRCAM's Spatialisateur software. "Messagequisse", a brief work for eight cellos, has been called Boulez's most insubstantial work, since it's almost over before it starts, but the recordings here and on DG are still fairly entertaining.

Many of the works here are minor, making it the modern-classical equivalent of a collection of "B-sides", but some of the music here is quite beautiful and abounding in interesting ideas. If you've already fallen in love with Boulez's music and have heard the major new recordings in DG's "20/21" series, you should move on to here.

Boulez-iana Fest.......2005-02-20

Here it is all in one place,primarily the young and middle period Boulez. There's nothing comparable to early Boulez, here you can sense like a shark smells blood of an open animal miles away,the fresh scent of the new dodecaphopnic means of composition, a new language to be practiced now that the darkest pages of European history are behind, a pathway now inevitable unalterable,we see this in the "Le visage nuptial, and the "Le Soleil Des Eaux" after text by Rene Char intensifies this period with such powerful quasi-political texts of human suffering and the glories of the imagination.The smaplings of texts and timbre married forever here. Boulez perhaps would revise the densely compact orchestration, but the full throttle of gutsy timbre is there, divisi strings, large arrays of metal percussion (A French trademark,shibboleths),impacted winds in fast filigree work. I tend to not like what Boulez does to the voice,and find myself simply enjoying the breathtaking orchestrations it(the voice)in Boulez's hands is hardly sensual for any length of time,and it has a one-dimensioanl aspect about it(simply compare the timbral pallette Berio had utilized at the same timein Epihanies for example) it is treated as simply another instrument as a vehicle, a conduit for text, and the delivery with large amounts of vibrato is horribly wrong-headed.

All these recordings are from other places, and you perhaps have already their presence in your collection. The"pli selon pli" is rather dated with Phyllis-Bryn Julson,joined in" Le visage. . " by Elizabeth Laurence with the BBC,Bouleaz first assignment there under Wm Glock's instigations. I would like to hear other recordings but there are none of "Le visage. . " and Les Soliel des Eaux".
Barenboim as conductor continues to be somewhat tedious with Boulez, it takes him forever to learn the modernist repertoire, and seldom programs ant pieces that would give him the performative technique he needs,any Webern or Schonberg, or Berg, or Ligeti,nothing (only Elliott Carter) who I suspect he thinks he comprehends with greater depth of cognition. Here the"Rituel" requires a conductor who can see the freedoms in the music, with the elaborate array of cueing devices and changes of tempi Boulez had built into this piece for his own indulgences, and performative sense. The "Notations" we have all heard now countless times, there is even Boulez in rehearsal with Vienna Phil that is quite educative and probing,more so than a performance with Barenboim.
Aimard plays the hell out of the First Piano Sonata, long a work in the shadow of the colossolly violent brutal Second Sonata, and indeterminate,elegant enigmatic Third Sonata. The First has two ideas; the sustained timbre and the pointillistic one, there are also intervallic magnetic forces that come to define regions in the work and points of a transgression to noise,in gradation; likewise the Flute Sonatine is cut from the same field,only if played well and violent, as it is here, the innovative modernity of the work has no equal, and really I tire to find another work for Flute anhd Piano that compares with the structural and aesthetic magnitude of this work, like I said early Boulez has fascinating moments. This is one of them.
Much later now "Derive" is a minor work for a motley collection of flute, clarinet, piano, vibes, violin and violoncello seems weak by comparison, it is difficult to play and this is perhaps the best recording with Boulez Ensemble Intercontemporain Players, likewise Memoriale, as (explosante/fix) is a process work for Flute and 8 Instruments when Boulez began thinking of the live dimension with the aid of the 4X Computer to be developed further in the bowels of IRCAM, as the haunting "Dialogue de l'ombre double, an antiphonal work with clarinet which to me is the last interesting work that mines the challenge of live/altered electronics; the Antiphones with Violin and Antiphonal electronics is quite tedious, tame and boring. The "Dialogue. . ." essentially captures the timbres of the Clarinet which can be quite introspective, private, as well as strident in the upper registers.It is after a text of Paul Claudel,and as we know literature has beeen an enternal nourishment within the Boulez aesthetic.

Boulez: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music

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documentary value
Not just a curiosity...

Boulez: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
Pierre Boulez , Swf So , Rosbaud , Loriod , and Ens Domaine
Manufacturer: Col Legno
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004WK67
Release Date: 2000-08-29

Customer Reviews:

documentary value.......2006-06-17

Book Two of "structures" is the reason to get this, Loriod and Pierre are remarkable together(They had toured with this repertoire for two pianos)and Loriod simply plays the hell out of this music, understands the young Pierre as no other and in some respects are good together although you can hear the date of the recording, the timbre is not as brilliant as if you had experienced this live. Book 2 is more a one-dimensional work,although loosely conceived compared to the deterministic strict serial Book One. Book Two has more texture to survey,not so concerned with how the pitches move and become transformed at every moment; lots of high filigree passages,continusouly running;i.e. thousand note cascades as the piano solo repertoire was to exploit as Finnissy, Sciarrino, Ferneyhoug, the complexity; the two pianos sound muffled, not too resonant. Book One was more straighforward, more transparent moments, more 12 tone faithful, Book 2 is overdetermined, lots of details in the scoring,to free up the interpretation with elliptical passages, indeterminate,something Boulez had learned from the Mallarme works and the Third Sonata. Pierre certainly had a deep affinity for the piano, anything he wrote was "touched" inspired with a resonant power combined simultaneously with a deep poetry,or suggestive of something else even the "surreal" crops up to the surface at times.Although it is difficult to argue along those lines in this highly abstract piece. But Book 2 has unrelenting moments,impenetrable really and you sense the post-electronic thinking of flipping a switch to turn on some autonomous dimension, there is hardly moments where for example the music "breathes" with slowing, diminutions of tempi, of durational lengths and you really cannot sort out the divisions where one pianist stops and the other continues. Loriod plays fairly impassioned, with a strong trumpet like tone,resonant whereas Boulez pulls back from the sound.

The other works, all of them simply have a documentary value. The:Polyphonic X: Boulez largely abandoned and recalled this work not satisfied with the results, and the instrumental writing is nowhere as interesting as the earlier "Livre for String Quartet" (later done for string orchestra)and the young Pierre simply did not have the same affinity or experience for writing for instruments as he later in life learned from conducting. A text tends to help his sensibility, his creativity to open the imagination; then things can happen as the Mallarme work and those settings after Rene Char. Boulez openly admits this in conversations which is why he succeeds much of the time, for he knows full well when he doesn't, something young and old composers can learn(or refuse to learn). As the "Poesie pour pouvoir" the electronics is largely uninteresting,it is mixed with the orchestra like a "milk-shake"; perhaps it was the cutting edge when prepared, but if you heard Stockhausen from the same period, or some years later it has far more sophistication,concept, depth and brilliance than this.The merger of both timbres(orchestra and electronics) simply doesn't work on a recording.But this is a genre Boulez certainly did not give up as his latter "repons" so powerfully does.
You need to experience this music, this CD live. The dedication to Furstenburg was I suspect commissioned, and again has documentary value with the Domaine Musicale the group that made history playing the entire repertoire of the Fifties avant-garde. The work has a nice transparent premise/ concept to it, all is clear

Not just a curiosity..........2000-09-13

The items on this disc are all recorded from their world premieres during the 50s and early 60s. Most have only rarely been heard since. "Polyphonie X" and "Poésie pour pouvoir," in fact, were quickly withdrawn from Boulez' catalog. As such, this disc should be of immediate import to die-hard Boulez fans simply for its historical value.

But there is more to this recording than just that. There is, after all, music to be heard (lest we forget). "Polyphonie X" (1950-51) is the earliest of the works presented here. It represents Boulez' so-called "total serialism" at its most extreme, yet, in its quieter moments--if only there were more--it presages the lucidity of his subsequent music. The performance is clearly inadequate, and the recorded sound boxed-in, but what virtues the piece does have are able--if only just barely--to shine through. An important note: col legno has segmented "Polyphonie X" into three separate tracks, and the editors have unfortunately cut from the original tape--highly inappropriate for a live performance--to do so.

"Poésie pour pouvoir" (1958) was Boulez' earliest foray into working electronics into a concert setting. The tape part is interwoven with the orchestra. At first, they alternate; later on, they overlap (or, at least, try to). Despite the vintage 50s material on the tape, it comes off as more reserved in its resrvoir of sound than similar works by some of Boulez' contemporaries. What really impresses me, however, is the utterly *gorgeous* orchestral writing, akin to that in "Pli selon pli" but livelier and freer in form. If only the recorded sound weren't so limited in its ability to pick up on the detail. A revision for Ircam technology would be very much appreciated; this music simply cannot afford to waste away in this (so far) one and only performance.

"Tombeau" (1959) should already be familiar to Boulez fans. To them I point out that this is the original version, which consists roughly of the first four minutes and last three minutes of the version in "Pli selon pli." To the newbie--who, nevertheless, probably shouldn't be starting out with this recording--I point out that "Tombeau" is a slowly-building crescendo, one of the most beautiful works (IMO) in the entire orchestral repertory (which I hope it will soon join). The performance and recorded sound are much better than those for the prior works.

"Structures II" (1956-61) is perhaps the most-often heard of the works on this disc. The pianists--here Yvonne Loriod and Boulez himself--provide a vituosic display of impressionistic colors running up and down the two keyboards. In a unique twist, the aleatoric second chapter is presented in two alternate treatments.

Tracks:

Pierrot Lunaire: Part I, Nos. 1-7 - Part II, Nos. 8-14 - Part III, Nos. 15-21
Concerto Per La Notte Di Natale Dell'anno 1956 (Concerto for Christmas)
Parole Di San Paolo

Tracks:

Notturno I: Giocoso, estatico - Notturno II: 'Piccola Serenata': Grazioso - Notturno III: La Luan Asoma - Notturno IV: Vivace, molto ritmico - Notturno V: Cacela de la Terrible Presencia - Notturno VI: 'Barcarola': Delicato, tenero - Notturno VII: Gios...
Improvisation No. 2: 'Une dentelle s'abolit'
Eclat
Trois Chants Sacres
Fire Fragile Flight
Surabaya Johnny

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Boulez:Pli Selon Pli
Schaefer , and Boulez
Manufacturer: Msi Music Corp
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B0000DEPGV
Release Date: 2002-08-29

Pierre Boulez: Pli Selon Pli - Phyllis Bryn-Julson / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez

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Pierre Boulez: Pli Selon Pli - Phyllis Bryn-Julson / BBC Symphony Orchestra / Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez (Composer & Conductor) , Phyllis Bryn-Julson (Soprano) , and BBC Symphony Orchestra
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00008FN6P
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire; Webern: 2 Lieder, 5 Canons; Boulez: Improvisations sur Mallarmé Nos. 1-2

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Unforgettable performance

Schoenberg: Pierrot lunaire; Webern: 2 Lieder, 5 Canons; Boulez: Improvisations sur Mallarmé Nos. 1-2

Manufacturer: Hungaroton
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000303W
Release Date: 1994-08-17

Customer Reviews:

Unforgettable performance.......2002-12-15

Admit it, you're looking at this because of Pierrot Lunaire, not the other works on this disk. Truth be told, the Boulez is a nice piece and the two Webern works are impeccable in conception and execution (and typically small!). The real treat here is a stunning vision of what may be the greatest 20th century vocal work. Erika Sziklay absolutely nails the feel of the madness, joy and fear in this piece. The chamber group is equal to her performance, illuminating the tricky counterpoint and voicings of the master contrapuntalist. I've had this disk for ten (?) years now and I've never heard a performance to match this. You needn't shop any further.

Bernstein Live at the New York Philharmonic

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Bernstein Live at the New York Philharmonic

Manufacturer: New York Philharmonic
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000055XDG
Release Date: 2000-01-01

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Boulez:Pli Selon
Boulez/BBC
Manufacturer: Bmg Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B00000E6XJ
Release Date: 1989-03-21

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