Wot? No comments on Boulez?

[ahinton]

Here Pierre Boulez in conversation with John Schaefer picks ten "great works of the twentieth century", not I dare say the "top" ten, still less the only ten. His choices aren't really surprising but his little explanations are quite interesting I think. For ease of discussion these are the works he chooses:

Varèse, Amériques
Berg, Three Pieces op.6
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Bartók, Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Webern, Six Pieces op.6
Berio, Sinfonia
Stockhausen, Gruppen
Mahler, Symphony no.6
Schoenberg, Erwartung
Boulez, Répons

... although my putting them here shouldn't be an excuse not to read the article!

I don't much like making this kind of list and I don't imagine Boulez did either. If I did it would have to be a lot longer, I would probably choose some of the same pieces, some different pieces by the same composers, and quite a few things that Boulez would regard either as too old-fashioned or as too extreme in some other way. While his musical world is quite complex within itself, his view of the outside musical world has always seemed relatively simple - there's a small repertoire of things that are worth bothering with, and the rest isn't worth a mention.

Very many thanks for this - it makes interesting reading indeed and the predictability of his selection detracts from it not in the slightest (the only item to cause me any surprise at all being Mahler's 6th symphony rather than his 9th). All very revealing and engaging, though and without any of the abrasiveness to which he has on occasion had recourse. No Messiaen, perhaps slightly surprisingly; no Dutilleux, unfortunately not at all surprisingly!...

It's very much an impossible Desert Island type of choice, though and I think that most people's lists would, like yours, have inevitably to be considerably longer; perhaps you might care to present yours (despite the fact that you're not fond of doing this kind of thing), containing as many as you wish!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... (the only item to cause me any surprise at all being Mahler's 6th symphony rather than his 9th).

He does say, Maybe I like the Adagio of the 9th more than the Adagio of the 6th, but on the whole, the 6th Symphony is always very impressive. - which perhaps suggests that there are passages in the Ninth that he doesn't find as successful?

It is an interesting article - but was Boulez asked to list only orchestral repertoire?

And one editorial error - discussing Gruppen, Boulez refers to "multiple time" to which the editor adds "signatures" (as if s/he's still thinking of Stravinsky and Bartok) - but it's clear from the rest of the statement that Boulez is referring to simultaneous multiple Tempi.

[ahinton]

He does say, Maybe I like the Adagio of the 9th more than the Adagio of the 6th, but on the whole, the 6th Symphony is always very impressive. - which perhaps suggests that there are passages in the Ninth that he doesn't find as successful?

Who knows? (apart from him, of course!). It would rather surprise me if so - but, that said, the 6th and 9th are two of Mahler's greatest symphonic achievements, IMHO.

It is an interesting article - but was Boulez asked to list only orchestral repertoire?

Good question indeed; I had wondered that myself...

[Richard Barrett]

He does say, Maybe I like the Adagio of the 9th more than the Adagio of the 6th, but on the whole, the 6th Symphony is always very impressive. - which perhaps suggests that there are passages in the Ninth that he doesn't find as successful?

It is an interesting article - but was Boulez asked to list only orchestral repertoire?

I assume so, otherwise there would probably have been an opera or two in there, Parsifal or Lulu for example.

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that Boulez favours the Sixth among Mahler's symphonies - for me, and perhaps for him also, there's a sense that the centrifugal tendencies towards expressive expansiveness on the one hand and tight structural control on the other are kept in balance to a greater and more consistent extent than in his other works, which reminds me of Boulez's achievement of something similar in Pli selon pli (and his mention of "organising delirium"). So this feature would I think make the Sixth particularly attractive to Boulez, although on the other hand it makes this piece the least attractive of Mahler's symphonies to me.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I assume so, otherwise there would probably have been an opera or two in there, Parsifal or Lulu for example.

errm - Parsifal isn't 20th Century ...

[Richard Barrett]

Ahem. OK then, Lulu and Bluebeard.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I blame this ruddy putting the clocks back and forward!

[ahinton]

I blame this ruddy putting the clocks back and forward!

I know! I just wish that this ridiculous nonsense would stop!

[Roehre]

I know! I just wish that this ridiculous nonsense would stop!

Wholeheartedly seconded

[Beef Oven!]

I know! I just wish that this ridiculous nonsense would stop!

Yeah, who cares about Scottish folk?

[ahinton]

Yeah, who cares about Scottish folk?

What's that to do with the price of whisky or raspberries? The quaintly named "daylight saving time" is of no more benefit to us than to anyone else; it can't buy anyone any more daylight!

[Beef Oven!]

What's that to do with the price of whisky or raspberries? The quaintly named "daylight saving time" is of no more benefit to us than to anyone else; it can't buy anyone any more daylight!

So ungrateful.

[Roehre]

Yeah, who cares about Scottish folk?

Who says that I want to have Summer time? GMT suffice

[ahinton]

So ungrateful.

Eh? To whom? Sorry - you've lost me there!

[Richard Barrett]

It certainly seems to be quite difficult to keep the comments to Boulez.

I was talking to someone the other evening who said one of the most interesting things about this performance of Pli selon pli was how different it was from the recorded performances made by Boulez himself (three as far as I know, each a bit slower and more luxuriant than the last), especially in those moments where the score allows the conductor some latitude to "play" the ensemble like a single large instrument. Presumably these moments can be understood as a kind of "self-portrait" of Boulez's own personality and preferences as a conductor, so that other interpreters then have the choice of either playing the part of Boulez (in the theatrical sense) or "being him/herself".