Boulez: Notations; Structures; ...explosante-fixe...
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Composer: Pierre BoulezConductor: Pierre Boulez
Conductor: Pierre-Andre Valade
Performer: Ensemble InterContemporain
Performer: Emmanuelle Oph?le
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1996-01-23
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
- Movement XII: Lent - Puissant Et ?pre
- Chapitre I
- Chapitre II (Pi?ces 1-2, Encarts 1-4, Textes 1-6)
- Transitoire VII - Interstitiel 1 - Transitoire V - Interstitiel 2
Music reviews of Boulez: Notations; Structures; ...explosante-fixe...
Music Review: Boulez's most powerful work -- essential
Rating: 5 Stars
"...explosante-fixe..." is the highlight of this disc, without question the most powerful of all of Boulez's compositions. For me, this is the reward for persevering through several of his less compelling pieces until finally hearing it! (This is the original release -- it was reissued in the DG 20/21 Echo series in 2005, the year of Boulez's 80th birthday.)
I was confused as to its place in the Boulez chronology. Here's why --"explosante," an open-ended work, was apparently the first composition Boulez worked on at IRCAM in the early 1970s. In the form presented here, though, "explosante" was finalized a decade after "Repons," which was finalized in 1984, but "explosante" was recorded first, in 1994, while "Repons" wasn't recorded and released on disc until 1998. Clear now?
I have to say I am underwhelmed by Repons (see my review), but "...explosante-fixe..." marks a tremendous advance over the earlier work. While "Repons" is shimmery and Debussian, "explosante" is quite forceful, coming closer to sounding like Xenakis than anything else Boulez has done. An electro-acoustic work featuring the midi flute of Sophie Cherrier along with two more flutes and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the form is three instrumental movements separated by two electronic interludes (interstitiel). It's ironic, perhaps, that when Boulez decides to let fly with his most powerful work he does it with a flute piece, but this is no ordinary flute -- the electronic amplification makes it possible for Cherrier to cut through even the densest of passages. The IRCAM technology is utilized to its fullest.
The two piano pieces are quite fine as well. "Notations," Boulez's earliest composition, sounds very much like Schoenberg and Webern, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs them fantastically. "Structures II" is tougher (though not as tough as the Piano Sonata No. 2 -- check out Pollini's ferocious recording for instance), a duo played by Aimard and Florent Boffard, but on this disc it is a perfect segue from the introverted "Notations" to the wild energy of "explosante."
Description of Boulez: Notations; Structures; ...explosante-fixe...
Pierre Boulez is a genuine rarity, a conductor who holds his own as a respected composer. Here he conducts a trio of his own works, from his earliest-published composition, Notations, to the version of ...explosante-fixe... that he conducted at IRCAM in the early 1990s. The piano works reveal what Boulez treasures: extremity of contrast, bruised sonorities humming as constant color, and skewered virtuosity.From Notations, things proceed to Structures pour deux pianos, where pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Florent Boffard dash into, across, beyond, above, and below each other in clustering runs and spare, telling jabs. The 36-minute ...explosante-fixe... is a celebration of accelerated and intensified sonic forestry. Sophie Cherrier's solo MIDI flute is electronically tampered with as a chamber orchestra and two additional flutes seek to ensnare, overwhelm, and surround Cherrier with unending swirls of sound. Energetic would be too flat a word to describe this display of volume and shifting soundscapes. Boulez advances electroacoustic composition here and shows himself a spectacular performing visionary in his leadership of the piece. --Andrew Bartlett
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