Pierre Boulez: Rituel / Eclat / Multiples - Ensemble InterContemporain / BBC Symphony Orchestra

Pierre Boulez (Artist), Ensemble InterContemporain (Artist), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 14, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002703
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,509 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars among the best of Boulez, August 25, 2005

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pierre Boulez: Rituel / Eclat / Multiples - Ensemble InterContemporain / BBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD)

This disc, with either two or three Boulez pieces depending on whether you count "Eclat" and "Multiples" or just "Eclat/Multiples," is one of the best of the select output by the French composer and conductor. One simple rule I have learned is to beware of longer works -- "Repons" at over 40 minutes loses energy and interest (see my review), and "Pli Selon Pli," which is 60 minutes long in the 1969 Sony recording (see my review) and 70 minutes in the latest DG version (see my review) needless to say tests the outer limits of endurance.

"Rituel in memoriam Maderna" (1974/5 -- 25' 19") sustains interest for its entire duration! The BBC Symphony Orchestra tackled this modern work in 1976 with the same enthusiasm they showed in their 1969 recording of "Pli Selon Pli." Opening with a keening oboe over a steady timpani rhythm, it is a static work which fascinates through its creative use of varied percussion and suspense. "Rituel" may be the most Messiaen-ic of all Boulez's compositions, a shifting progression of fifteen tableaus, gradually increasing the size of the orchestra to the midpoint, and then diminishing.

"Eclat" and "Multiples" are performed by Boulez's own Ensemble Intercontemporain. "Eclat" (1965 -- 9'41") opens with piano, and its 15 instruments are divided into two groups -- instruments capable of sustaining tones (flute English horn, trumpet, trombone & strings) as "sonorous background" for a group of soloists, all instruments whose sound dies away (piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone, mandolin & guitar). The slightest familiarity with Boulez reveals that this is a very Boulezian choice of instrumentation, leading to a characteristically Boulezian timbre. I would recommend this brief crystalline work as an ideal introduction to the music of Pierre Boulez. "Multiples" (1966-1970 -- 17'02") is unfinished. We can only hope it remains that way, though the liner notes threaten that it is supposed to be doubled in length when completed. It takes the "Eclat" ensemble and adds nine violas and a basset horn. Louder and more exuberant, it becomes quite different in style and mood than the preceding "part," and variety is a virtue in any Boulez recording.

This disc, part of the fine Sony PIERRE BOULEZ series, can be recommended without reservation -- it makes a great bargain-price introduction to Boulez, and it is an essential addition to a Boulez collection already underway.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it or hate it, the world needs stuff like this...., February 28, 2001

By 

Christian Miller (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pierre Boulez: Rituel / Eclat / Multiples - Ensemble InterContemporain / BBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD)

Rituel is Boulez at his most accesible. An obssesive thredony, rich with oriental resonances, and jazzy 'improvisatory' woodwind polyphony, it owes a great debt to his teacher, Messian. Magical soundscapes of midrange instruments on Eclat and Multiple. As it's one of Boulez's indeterminate pieces (musicial events can be triggered in different orders and dynamics by the conductor), this piece would be best heard live, but retains an expectant tension on the recording. Multiples follows Eclat with vigor and verve. A hint for the uninitiated; listen to a little Boulez at first, and clear your mind of any preconceptions about harmony. Sampling a little each time, one can grow accostomed to his unique sounds, and begin to appreciate the music on its own terms. Personally, I like to listen to Boulez to clear my palette after a heavy meal of Romantic music, but many may find him a little dry.... Ah, well, I like it. Superb performance from the Ensemble. Sound suitably brilliant and clear throughout.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three pieces which introduce Boulez's recent blend of glittering colours and ingeniously-paced action, August 6, 2006

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pierre Boulez: Rituel / Eclat / Multiples - Ensemble InterContemporain / BBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD)

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.