timeless
Anton Webern (1883-1945), Six Pieces for Large Orchestra, (Op. 6; 1909-10, revised 1928), Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) conducting an unidentified orchestra, live, Japan
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, outside Chicago (Illinois Prairie Path)
sounds of Paris and Moscow
Ensemble Intercontemporain (Dylan Corlay, direction), live, Moscow (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall), 11/19/20: Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), Dérive 1; Bruno Mantovani (1974-), Chamber Concerto No. 2
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, outside Chicago (Salt Creek Trail)
*****
reading table
Light was on its way
from nothing
to nowhere.***
How could speed take shape?
***
God is encrypting his account.
—Rae Armantrout (1947-), from “Accounts”
sounds of Paris
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), . . . explosante-fixe . . . (for solo MIDI flute, two “shadow” flutes, chamber orchestra, and electronics, 1991–93); Ensemble Intercontemporain (Matthias Pintscher, cond.), live, Paris, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
wake up!
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), Notation II (1945-1980); Berlin Philharmonic (Pierre Boulez, cond.), live, Berlin, 2009
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
percussion festival
day one
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965), Ionisation (1929-31); Ensemble InterContemporain (Pierre Boulez [1925-2016], cond.), live
passings
Pierre Boulez, composer, conductor, March 16, 1925-January 5, 2016
Dérive 2 (P. Boulez), Ensemble Intercontemporain (Pierre Boulez, cond.), live
*****
Pierre Boulez, who has died aged 90, was arguably the single dominant figure of the classical musical world through the second half of the 20th century and beyond.
—The Guardian obituary, 1/6/16
the other night
I heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Yefim Bronfman, perform this piece. In The Human Stain Phillip Roth wrote of Bronfman: “Then Bronfman appears. Bronfman the brontosaur! Mr. Fortissimo. Enter Bronfman to play Prokofiev at such a pace and with such bravado as to knock my morbidity clear out of the ring.” Isn’t that what we want from music, one of the things, anyway—to have our “morbidity” “knock[ed] . . . clear out of the ring,” if only for a while, until it creeps back in?
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), Piano Concerto No. 2; Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana (Zoltan Pesko, cond.), Zoltan Kocsis, piano; live, 1995
1st Movement
2nd Movement (A)
2nd Movement (B)
3rd Movement
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lagniappe
alone
Johann Sebastian Bach, Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, 2nd movement (fugue)
Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988), violin
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
A world where Bach could be heard via the internet by anyone, anywhere, anytime, could seem, so long as other things were overlooked, a paradise.
***
From an interview with composer and conductor Pierre Boulez:
Q. What is the main problem with young conducting students?
A. They think too much or too little.
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