Rituel Eclat Multiples

This Sony disc contains three pieces by Pierre Boulez with the composer himself conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. I think that the products of Boulez's middle period, following the Piano Sonata No. 3, are generally disappointing, showing a certain lack of focus. The pieces here, however, represent a coming back to life that was to lead to his great masterpieces of the 80s and 90s.

"Eclat" for 15 instruments (1965) continues Boulez's interest in aleatoric form. In this work consisting of a succession of elegant little motifs, the pitches, tempo, and dynamics are all predetermined, but the conductor can, on the spur of the moment, decide which motif he wants to signal next. The small ensemble is divided into two halves, those instruments whose sound dies away immediately unless trilled, and those instruments capable of sustaining there sound. In the interaction between these two groups, Boulez creates a web of beautiful colours. "Multiples", meant to always follow "Eclats" to form a single piece "Eclat/Multiples", was begun in 1971 and is still unfinished. It is an expansion of the ideas of the first piece, lasting twice as long and with the added instrumentation of nine violas, a basset horn, and a second piano. It shows a much greater variety of rhythms, and much of the writing consists of tuttis against the isolated cells of "Eclat". This second half of the joint work is one of my favourite pieces by Boulez, captivating for every minute of its duration and revealing new secrets on every listen.

"Rituel" for orchestra in eight groups (1974/75) was written in memory of Bruno Maderna, a Darmstadt figure who is nearly forgotten now but who was a close friend and inspiration to many composers who came of age in the 1950s. With its solemn pace and sad, mournful tones, the piece serves as a strong antidote to that usual conservative accusation that serialism "can't communicate anything." This is Boulez's vastest work in terms of percussion, with a large amount of exotic drums, cymbals, bells, wood blocks, and so forth on the stage. Its fifteen sections consist of highly mobile even-numbered intonations, unconducted after Boulez signals their starting points, contrasted with strict conducted responses. Over the course of the work, we move from one orchestral group to another, exploring all of its timbres even though the melodic material is intentionally limited to create a feeling of sorrow.

I should mention that appreciation of everything here can be vastly expanded through outside references. Dominique Jameux's PIERRE BOULEZ (Harvard University Press, 1991) contains a fantastic dissection, specifying what's happening minute by minute in each piece. For "Eclat" specifically, there's a documentary by Frank Schaeffer recently put out on DVD in the Juxtapositions series that shows Ed Spaanjard preparing to conduct the piece with the Nieuw Ensemble, with helpful commentary by Boulez himself.

Nothing here has quite the same grand proprtions of such later pieces as "...explosante-fixe...", "Repons", or "Sur Incises" (though "Multiples" gets close), but they are generally entertaining and represent a vast improvement over the lack of focus in "Pli selon pli" or the Piano Sonata No. 3.

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