Prom 36: Boulez/Ravel/Stravinsky (12.08.15)

[edashtav]

...and it gives the movers more time to fit in the Left-handed piano!

That elephantine beast has enjoyed a good innings at these Proms having been hoist for Prokofiev's analogous piece a couple of weeks ago, thanks to the "movers and shakers" back in Radio 3.

[Lento]

Still struggling to appreciate Boulez.Perhaps someone can give some brief "selling points"?

[Serial_Apologist]

Still struggling to appreciate Boulez.Perhaps someone can give some brief "selling points"?

The orchestral colours are gorgeous (as in "La Mer")
The music is sensuous
It is not harsh
You never know what's coming next.

[Beef Oven!]

Still struggling to appreciate Boulez.Perhaps someone can give some brief "selling points"?

Starter for ten............aesthetics.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Still struggling to appreciate Boulez.Perhaps someone can give some brief "selling points"?

Sticking with Figures - Doubles - Prisms - what seems most obvious to me is a piece that's based on the interaction (conflict and cooperation) between two different types of Musical activity: staccato ostinato perpetuum mobiles and sustained/"floating" sounds (notes or chords held over a period of time). This interaction is heard right from the very beginning in the first 30 seconds (which I hear as an "Introduction") in which a stabbing loud chord is followed by a quiet held chord. Onto this chord other instrument unobtrusively merge, and glittering fragments from Harp and Vibraphone are added (I think one of the trumpets is out of tune at around 41secs). This is interrupted (at 1'05") by louder, more aggressive material dominated by stabbing brass - the tuned percussion by drums - but there is still sustained material (the violins or upper woodwinds, with a crescendo colouring the sustained sounds in a way that becomes a regular feature of this piece).

From 1'55", the Music alternates between attempts to synthesise this contrasting material (seeking common ground, attempting accommodation) and stark juxtaposings of them (uncompromising, aggressively self-determined) but from 8'10", there is (or seems to be) greater simultaneous presentation of the two types and less juxtaposing. (8'10" is about the mid-way point of the piece.) The composer allows us to get the impression that this is going to be how the piece ends - with assimilation/synthesis of the two types of Music, and even a perky little tune at 11'30" - 12'00" seeming to sum up this new-found "friendship". But Boulez is far too good a composer to rely on such simplistic aesthetics after the weight of the contrast between the two types in the first half remain hanging unresolved. A solo violin cantalena at 14'00" takes the mood back closer to that at the beginning, with the tuned percussion glitter and sustained chords that were characteristic of the "introduction" - and the solo violin becomes a tutti violin section melody. This could be a more satisfactory ending, with the argument more firmly resolved in favour of gentle, pacific material.

But that's still too pat - too Romantically a "happy ending", and that doesn't address the more aggressive aspects which otherwise are just swept under the carpet - a wishful-thinking that might be adequate to other composers, but not to Boulez. But then, neither would a straight nihilistic return to the more aggressive material: an equally "Romantic" if pessimistic conclusion. So what does he do? He takes up the character of the "perky little tune" from 11'30" and gives it the full "ostinato" treatment: the aggression subsumed into busy activity that could continue indefinitely, so Boulez cuts it off in midstream, allowing the point to be inferred, rather than bluntly stating what is obvious.


If the listener doesn't like Music which is based on harmonies based on (major and minor) seconds rather than thirds; and/or if the listener is expecting melodies with the characteristic phrasing of 18th & 19th Century Music; and/or structures that grow "organically" from section to section; and/or orchestration in which the distinct sections (woodwind, brass, strings, percussion) play discrete roles in the timbre; and/or rhythms that recurr within a regular repeated pulse - then F-D-P can seem like a nihilistic rejection of everything s/he regards as being "Music". All that seems left is a sort of remnant of the Hegelian Thesis/Antithesis dramatic contrast of "Sonata Form".

But Boulez' attitude isn't that of a sort of Musical "Wild One" ("What are you rebelling against?" "Whaddya got?") - it's a positive aesthetic: this is what Music can DO when you think away from those terms and replace them with other ways of thinking, playing and listening. There's no gimmickry here - the layout of the instruments is essential to produce the colours that emerge when vibraphone contends with drums, when instead of a chord played by "Strings", it's played by violins, trumpets, oboes, harp and bassoons, when conjoined twins and triplets in the woodwinds are scattered in different positions on the platform. When phrases are replaced by figures, when long-breathed structures become fragmented into pithy, individual statements (and this use of "Moment" form shows a greater influence from Gruppen than the orchestral seating arrangements).

A lot of Music - and a lot of good Music - is content to wrestle new ways of working with already-established Musical conventions. A lot of (often) bad Music is content merely to negate these conventions, but fails to create valid new ways of expression and communication.

Boulez is the real deal - he invents these new expressive means, producing Music that is gloriously and genuinely optimistic. And that's why, fifty-five years ago, he was able to produce a work fresher and "newer" than everything else by any living composer in this year's Proms.

[Beef Oven!]

Sticking with Figures - Doubles - Prisms - what seems most obvious to me is a piece that's based on the interaction (conflict and cooperation) between two different types of Musical activity: staccato ostinato perpetuum mobiles and sustained/"floating" sounds (notes or chords held over a period of time). This interaction is heard right from the very beginning in the first 30 seconds (which I hear as an "Introduction") in which a stabbing loud chord is followed by a quiet held chord. Onto this chord other instrument unobtrusively merge, and glittering fragments from Harp and Vibraphone are added (I think one of the trumpets is out of tune at around 41secs). This is interrupted (at 1'05") by louder, more aggressive material dominated by stabbing brass - the tuned percussion by drums - but there is still sustained material (the violins or upper woodwinds, with a crescendo colouring the sustained sounds in a way that becomes a regular feature of this piece).

From 1'55", the Music alternates between attempts to synthesise this contrasting material (seeking common ground, attempting accommodation) and stark juxtaposings of them (uncompromising, aggressively self-determined) but from 8'10", there is (or seems to be) greater simultaneous presentation of the two types and less juxtaposing. (8'10" is about the mid-way point of the piece.) The composer allows us to get the impression that this is going to be how the piece ends - with assimilation/synthesis of the two types of Music, and even a perky little tune at 11'30" - 12'00" seeming to sum up this new-found "friendship". But Boulez is far too good a composer to rely on such simplistic aesthetics after the weight of the contrast between the two types in the first half remain hanging unresolved. A solo violin cantalena at 14'00" takes the mood back closer to that at the beginning, with the tuned percussion glitter and sustained chords that were characteristic of the "introduction" - and the solo violin becomes a tutti violin section melody. This could be a more satisfactory ending, with the argument more firmly resolved in favour of gentle, pacific material.

But that's still too pat - too Romantically a "happy ending", and that doesn't address the more aggressive aspects which otherwise are just swept under the carpet - a wishful-thinking that might be adequate to other composers, but not to Boulez. But then, neither would a straight nihilistic return to the more aggressive material: an equally "Romantic" if pessimistic conclusion. So what does he do? He takes up the character of the "perky little tune" from 11'30" and gives it the full "ostinato" treatment: the aggression subsumed into busy activity that could continue indefinitely, so Boulez cuts it off in midstream, allowing the point to be inferred, rather than bluntly stating what is obvious.


If the listener doesn't like Music which is based on harmonies based on (major and minor) seconds rather than thirds; and/or if the listener is expecting melodies with the characteristic phrasing of 18th & 19th Century Music; and/or structures that grow "organically" from section to section; and/or orchestration in which the distinct sections (woodwind, brass, strings, percussion) play discrete roles in the timbre; and/or rhythms that recurr within a regular repeated pulse - then F-D-P can seem like a nihilistic rejection of everything s/he regards as being "Music". All that seems left is a sort of remnant of the Hegelian Thesis/Antithesis dramatic contrast of "Sonata Form".

But Boulez' attitude isn't that of a sort of Musical "Wild One" ("What are you rebelling against?" "Whaddya got?") - it's a positive aesthetic: this is what Music can DO when you think away from those terms and replace them with other ways of thinking, playing and listening. There's no gimmickry here - the layout of the instruments is essential to produce the colours that emerge when vibraphone contends with drums, when instead of a chord played by "Strings", it's played by violins, trumpets, oboes, harp and bassoons, when conjoined twins and triplets in the woodwinds are scattered in different positions on the platform. When phrases are replaced by figures, when long-breathed structures become fragmented into pithy, individual statements (and this use of "Moment" form shows a greater influence from Gruppen than the orchestral seating arrangements).

A lot of Music - and a lot of good Music - is content to wrestle new ways of working with already-established Musical conventions. A lot of (often) bad Music is content merely to negate these conventions, but fails to create valid new ways of expression and communication.

Boulez is the real deal - he invents these new expressive means, producing Music that is gloriously and genuinely optimistic. And that's why, fifty-five years ago, he was able to produce a work fresher and "newer" than everything else by any living composer in this year's Proms.

Many thanks, fernie. A clear and understandable exposition of how (in FDP, as an example) Boulez creates music of almost indescribable beauty,

[Roehre]

Great posting FHG

......
Boulez is the real deal - he invents these new expressive means, producing Music that is gloriously and genuinely optimistic. And that's why, fifty-five years ago, he was able to produce a work fresher and "newer" than everything else by any living composer in this year's Proms.

Cannot agree more

[edashtav]

Sticking with Figures - Doubles - Prisms -
[...]

A lot of Music - and a lot of good Music - is content to wrestle new ways of working with already-established Musical conventions. A lot of (often) bad Music is content merely to negate these conventions, but fails to create valid new ways of expression and communication.

Boulez is the real deal - he invents these new expressive means, producing Music that is gloriously and genuinely optimistic. And that's why, fifty-five years ago, he was able to produce a work fresher and "newer" than everything else by any living composer in this year's Proms.

The most helpful and cogent post that I've seen during these Proms, fhg. It would have made a great programme note for this piece. Cheers!

[teamsaint]

The most helpful and cogent post that I've seen during these Proms, fhg. It would have made a great programme note for this piece. Cheers!

So THATS why he hasn't got round to starting that " Intention in Art "thread. Too busy with stuff like post # 35.

Great stuff . THanks Ferney.

[edashtav]

As a further response to Lento's request for hooks to hang his Boulez and inspired by fhg's masterly exegesis, I sat down to think how I approached this score. My primary training was as a chemical scientist, and I approached the music using some scientific concepts.

Figures refers to simple elements perhaps defined by dynamics, attack, gentleness, slowness, etc. These elements can have a harmonic, rhythmically or melodic bias. Unlike traditional themes, perhaps created with an eye to development, they are akin to chemical elements: they can exist in native form yet display allotropy, or be transformed through combination (molecules) or intermingle (mixtures).

Doubles can be likened to a human double or doppelganger in German. Thus, during the movement’s progress, each figure may encounter its double which is related only to it and, possibly, no other figure.

Prismes / Prisms occur when the figures and their doubles refract themselves one by the other (and vice versa). And in this case, one figure becomes the prism, and the other is refracted by it. Of course, prisms can act also as reflectors (through total internal reflection, to use a an analogy from physics). By this process, a complex structure is created, and the effect will be comparable, in some ways, to a sequence of shakes of a kaleidoscope, or the result of employing an array of such machines.

Well that may not help you, lento, but... there may be boarders who can approach the work in that manner.

[jayne lee wilson]

Here's another view on Artsdesk...

http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/prom-36-hamelin-bbcso-roth

fhg - what do you make of Scotney's comment here about the Boulez (second paragraph), that "his postwar experimentation phase now feels very dated indeed." ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

fhg - what do you make of Scotney's comment here about the Boulez (second paragraph), that "his postwar experimentation phase now feels very dated indeed." ?

Complete ignorance of what "experimentation" is.

[edashtav]

Here's another view on Artsdesk...

http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/prom-36-hamelin-bbcso-roth

fhg - what do you make of Scotney's comment here about the Boulez (second paragraph), that "his postwar experimentation phase now feels very dated indeed." ?

The first sentence echoes fhg’s view of the genesis of Boulez’s work and is a statement of fact. The thought about tiny echoes of Mahler and Berg I find unhelpful and illustrates the mindset of the reviewer searching for hooks to anchor his own wandering, baffled thoughts. The following sentence is merely descriptive The reference to “a maze of sonority” in the programme note suggests that note was an unhelpful guide. The final dismissive sentence is an intellectually lazy response – labelling the work as “experimental” implies that, as far as Scotney is concerned, a whole period of Boulez’s work can be shelved, and labelled as “work in progress” and “curios”.

My worry is that the BBC's concert programming is less radical now than it was under William Glock. The easy to reach, ripe, sweet fruit is proffered time and time again whilst tougher nuts needing preparation before consumption are programmed infrequently and even more rarely explained. Audiences, including critics, are being sold short and dumbed down.

[edashtav]

Ivan Hewett's more nuanced response in the Daily Telegraph is here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/prom-36-marc-andre-hamelin-bbc-so-review/

After informing us that the spatial effects of the three orchestral groups didn't work well in the RAH. Hewett writes a rather descriptive paragraph. Again, as with Scotney, the reader is led to believe that the piece is raw - an apprentice piece, without the comforting familiar gestures and idioms of Boulez's maturity. Here's the main burden of Hewett's analysis:

What came over with spellbinding clarity was Boulez’s brilliance in ringing the changes on short, pungent musical gestures, which were scattered across the orchestra like light sent through a prism. The conductor François-Xavier Roth cleverly caught the music’s multi-layered quality. It was so vivid partly because the familiar Boulez fingerprints – trills, those Frenchified harmonies – hadn’t yet appeared. The unfamiliarity of the sounds allowed the stark abstraction of Boulez’s ideas to shine through, unimpeded.

[Serial_Apologist]

My worry is that the BBC's concert programming is less radical now than it was under William Glock. The easy to reach, ripe, sweet fruit is proffered time and time again whilst tougher nuts needing preparation before consumption are programmed infrequently and even more rarely explained. Audiences, including critics, are being sold short and dumbed down.

You couldn't have put it better, Ed.