Pierre Boulez: Domaines - Ensemble Musique Vivante

1. Domaines, for clarinet & 21 instruments in 6 groups
Composed by Pierre Boulez
with Musique Vivante Ensemble

Customer Reviews:

Not so well known gem........2002-02-09

I purchased this recording for a number of reasons.
To begin with, the lable is one of the finest that Europe has to offer. Secondly, Boulez is one of the most fascinating musians of the past half century. Also, this work is relatively limited in availability, so for the price I don't mind the short playing time. I found the wide variety of textures of this splendid music most delightful.

Pierre Boulez: Domaines - Ensemble Musique Vivante

Average customer rating:

marvelous metamorphosis of a dull solo for clarinet

Pierre Boulez: Domaines - Ensemble Musique Vivante
Ensemble Musique Vivante , Michel Portal , and Diego Masson
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Domaines: Premi Partie
Domaines: Deuxi Partie

Customer Reviews:

marvelous metamorphosis of a dull solo for clarinet.......2000-05-16

An interesting aspect of Boulez's creativity is his continuous revisions or rethinking,redeploying of works. It is not revisions to correct technical imperfections,that would be far too simpleminded I think, but more for Boulez it is creating a situation for exploring the conceptual possibilities of a specific work,to see the true horizon of a work. Certainly this was not the case in the early works, the Soliel Des Eaux,for voices and orchestra. That was written by a young violent and arrogant (at times) serial innovator in the early Fifties, a composer with no skills at orchestration or the subtleties of instrumental timbre. His subsequent new life as conductor certainly filled this void profoundly. Domaines here is an excellent example of Boulez's interest in keeping an element of his work free from a fixed scheme or duration and yet probing the creative possibilities that remain fixed and static. This began with his Third Piano Sonata,but as that work exhibits and all subsequent ones, Boulez had mapped out fairly vigorously the routes and circumventions the works unfolding may take by the performer,yet specific sections were completely written as fixed axis, almost like a mobile of fixed structural configurations that rotate around an axis, the changes however become predictable over repeated experiences. Domaines somewhat functions in this realm, here begun as a modest solo for Bb Clarinet with colourful extended timbres,multiphonics gently placed,within a shifting emphasis on the timbral registers of the instrument, from its upper piercing ,strident range to its relativily dull and dark lower schalamo register. It was first performed as a solo in 1968 at Ulm,also Brussels and Donaueshingen the same year.It works very arduously as a solo, mannered gestures that seem to inhabit an enclosed space, a timid self-conscious gestural space.The Clarinet is not a striking instrument full of other-wordly emotive timbral heavens as the flute of cello. Boulez's instincts to impart and surround the solo with varying densities of 21 instruments,in 6 groups was indeed a fascinating resolution, to what was a relativily again a tame and dull at times clarinet solo. The Clarinet however remains the fixed point of interest and magnetic attraction, freely moving physically sometimes within the placement of the brethren yet subservient ensemble. The conceptual plan to deal with this duality is the "Original" the clarinet and its "Mirror" the ensemble divided into 6 fixed groups.In the "Original" each section has its own instruments which remain to identify it, a fixed timbral configurations which the Bb Clarinet subsequently adds a commentary, or an embellishment. So for instance Section A is alto trombone, 2 tenor trombones and one bass trombone, Section c interestingly is a marimba with Contrabass, which here sounds very jazzy in a free Boulezian melodic language. The Clarinet then has fixed sections which can be played in a prescribed order,but may change between performances, also the placement of the 21 instruments is free,but once determined remain fixed. On this recording the clarinet plan "Original" is ADCBEF, and the ensemble DCEABF, the Clarinet comes first as a prelude then so follows the Ensemble.So the Clarinet is always an interruptive interlude. The result however of all this freely determined descipline is a wonderfully coloured and inventive dialogue between the clarinet and the ensemble. The problem is that the clarinet still sounds (to me anyway) dull and uninspired when contrasted with the fascinating and vibrant sounds of the ensemble, the powerfully punctuated trombones of Section A for instance or the ethereal sounding strings of Section B. Section D is also fascinating with wistfull fluttertonguing in the flute with muted trumpet and alto sax,bassoon and harp. All these instrumental colours Boulez projects with utmost clarity,yet forcefull chordal statements contrasted with fast furioso single lines, running up atonal-like scales or filigrees. The work also has a gentle charm,poetic which the clarinet at times disrupts like an uninvited guest.

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Les Classiques du XX Siecle

Manufacturer: Musique D'abord
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Box Sets | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Laborintus 2: Premiere Partie - Christiane Legrand/Janette Baucomont/Claudine Meunier/Edoardo Sanguineti
Laborintus 2: Deuxieme Partie - Christiane Legrand/Janette Baucomont/Claudine Meunier/Edoardo Sanguineti

Tracks: