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Pierre Boulez, the tireless champion of Webern and the Second Vienna School, wrote three major pieces in what I now think of as his late period --
Repons
(1981-84 -- see my review), "...explasante-fixe..." (1991-93) and
Sur Incises
(1996/98 -- see my review). I have never found the shimmery, Debussian electro-acoustic "Repons" to be particularly impressive. "Sur Incises" sounds better with time, and I now hear more clearly how it fits in Boulez's project than when I first it several years ago. And while "...explosante-fixe..." doesn't sound quite as amazing now as it did initially, I still consider it to be the best of the "late trilogy," a swirling, impressionistic electro-acoustic flute concerto.
The midi flute of Sophie Cherrier is featured, along with two more flutes (Emmanuelle Ophele and Pierre-Andre Valade), and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, with electro-acoustic realization by Andrew Gerszo of IRCAM. 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. On first listening, I thought it sounded more like Xenakis than I do today. Boulez's soundworld is very different from Xenakis's, very French and very Debussian. The electronics are not hard-edged or forceful, rather they created swirling clouds of sound. (This disc was
reissued in the DG 20/21 Echo series
in 2005 with excellent improved artwork.)
I was confused as to this work's 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?
The two piano pieces are quite fine as well. "Notations," Boulez's earliest composition, sounds very much like Schoenberg and Webern, though I have never found the piano works of Boulez or Stockhausen to be as compelling, 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."
All of the recordings on this disc are included in the new 13-disc
Boulez: Complete Works
, indicating that they are seen by Boulez as the best available performances.
[UPDATED 4/30/13]
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