Boulez 100

[Ein Heldenleben]

This Boulez 100 day is very good indeed - a slow start this a.m. with too much talking about his music for me but once we hit the performances the brilliance , sensuality and quality of it all amazes. The whole day has been very thoughtfully produced . This live concert on now is truly excellent . One hesitates to say but it justifies the entire existence of Radio 3 - lets face it who else would do it ?

PS was he the greatest writer for flute after Ravel ? Maybe even better ..

[eighthobstruction]

This Boulez 100 day is very good indeed - a slow start this a.m. with too much talking about his music for me but once we hit the performances the brilliance , sensuality and quality of it all amazes. The whole day has been very thoughtfully produced . This live concert on now is truly excellent . One hesitates to say but it justifies the entire existence of Radio 3 - lets face it who else would do it ?

PS was he the greatest writer for flute after Ravel ? Maybe even better ..

Yes, really enjoying today.....

[silvestrione]

This Boulez 100 day is very good indeed - a slow start this a.m. with too much talking about his music for me but once we hit the performances the brilliance , sensuality and quality of it all amazes. The whole day has been very thoughtfully produced . This live concert on now is truly excellent . One hesitates to say but it justifies the entire existence of Radio 3 - lets face it who else would do it ?

PS was he the greatest writer for flute after Ravel ? Maybe even better ..

Thanks for that. Yes, Radio 3 gets a lot of stick on here, but here we have them at their best.

[Roger Webb]

...................... was he [Boulez] the greatest writer for flute after Ravel ?

No, Charles Koechlin was!

[oliver sudden]

This might be of interest? Watched it on a train trip yesterday.

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/115573-000-A/pierre-boulez-towards-the-unknown/

[oliver sudden]

the brilliance , sensuality and quality of it all amazes.

I've been listening to this music for quite a few decades now and I don't think it's ever felt this fresh, or as rewarding as a purely sensual listening experience.

One hesitates to say but it justifies the entire existence of Radio 3 - lets face it who else would do it ?

Extremely apt of course since it was the BBC who gave him one of his crucial conducting gigs!

[Quarky]

This Boulez 100 day is very good indeed - a slow start this a.m. with too much talking about his music for me but once we hit the performances the brilliance , sensuality and quality of it all amazes. The whole day has been very thoughtfully produced . This live concert on now is truly excellent . One hesitates to say but it justifies the entire existence of Radio 3 - lets face it who else would do.

Agreed totally. Well done Radio 3 - the best immersion day for some time, perhaps going back to the days of Roger Wright.
Boulez is an important composer, but I'm not sure there are many takers for him on this forum::

https://www.for3.org/forums/forum/classical-forum/talking-about-music/composers/18931-boulez-pierre-1925-2016#post1255535

[Sir Velo]

Debussy, for me, is the greatest writer for flute: e.g. Prelude a l'apres-midi; Syrinx; Sonata for flute etc.

[Historian]

Agreed totally. Well done Radio 3 - the best immersion day for some time, perhaps going back to the days of Roger Wright.
Boulez is an important composer, but I'm not sure there are many takers for him on this forum::

https://www.for3.org/forums/forum/cl...16#post1255535

And I'm not one of them, so far. However, that says more about me than his music. I will try again, using some of yesterday''s broadcasts as a starting place. Agree that this was something only Radio Three would do (in this country at any rate).

[Roger Webb]

Debussy, for me, is the greatest writer for flute: e.g. Prelude a l'apres-midi; Syrinx; Sonata for flute etc.

I hesitated before putting Koechlin ahead of Debussy, but because Koechlin is so prolific - his contribution to the solo flute rep. is second to none......Debussy's Syrinx, although more popular, cannot be compared to Koechlin's monumental Les Chants de Nectaire - he must go first.

BTW Nichola Woodward's tremendous recording is a must, here is her introduction to these endlessly fascinating pieces :-

https://youtu.be/fZCjy5BOS9o?si=DqjVyftdR875x9tn

[oliver sudden]

In the arte film I linked to above, there are quite a few interview moments with FX Roth—he recalls visiting Boulez very near the end of his life with Emmanuel Pahud, and Pahud playing him Syrinx! I’m not sure if that might even make Syrinx the last music he heard live…

[oliver sudden]

Gosh! Christian Merlin speaking English!

(being interviewed by Kate Molleson. I’ve spent hours listening to him on La Tribune and might not have recognised the voice if not for the occasional French names and title…)

[Bella Kemp]

Absolutely wonderful.

[cloughie]

I find Boulez as a conductor excellent - his Ravel, Debussy, Mahler and Stravinsky really good. His compositions are very much harder to get into - a mystery of mastery no doubt but I’ve not solved it yet!

[Roger Webb]

I find Boulez as a conductor excellent - his Ravel, Debussy, Mahler and Stravinsky really good. His compositions are very much harder to get into - a mystery of mastery no doubt but I’ve not solved it yet!

Most memorable performance for me was his Pelléas et Mélisande which he conducted for WNO....and luckily recorded for DVD (DG 073 030-9). These were the great days of WNO - there seemed excitement in the air...I think we won't see the like of these fabulous performances again with the present antipathy to opera afoot.

I too find his music 'difficult', but my way in was by the 2nd Viennese School, particularly Webern, of whose music Boulez was an advocate and adroit performer.