Pierre Boulez - a Hurwitz masterstroke!

[adriano]

Dont' worry Mark :-)
We are but human beings and that's the great fun about it.

[Alan Howe]

One might argue that UC exists to counter Boulez's compositional credo, i.e. that all music prior to his brand of revolutionary modernism had been superseded. Strange to think that he actually conducted some of this reactionary stuff! All revolutions, of course, eventually devour their own children. Boulez left music nowhere to go...

[Justin]

In my view his "music" is Stockhausen with the piano as the synthesizer.

[adriano]

Listen to his own piano pieces, Justin, then you may realize how wrong you are!
The fact that pianists like Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Maurizio Pollini, the Kontarsky brothers and others performed it, speaks for itself.

And to all those who have a bad opinion of Boulez because they do not like (or do not understand) his music, I strongly recommend his 60 minutes' interview with Claude Samuel of October 2011. In there one can also learn his ideas about conducting and what a modest person he was! It also exists in English translation, but not in the internet. It's a bonus disc of DGG's Boulez Edition box.

And, as a teacher in conducting, in my opinion he was one of the best of his generation. In my younger years I could not afford to play his masterclasses, but could attend one class as a guest. All my colleagues who studied with him were enthusiastic.

[Justin]

That's why you're the conductor Adriano, and David Hurwitz and I are not. 

I heard one of his sonatas and that's just what came to mind. Hurwitz has probably heard all of it.

[Alan Howe]

The fact that pianists like Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Maurizio Pollini, the Kontarsky brothers and others performed it, speaks for itself.

With respect, it doesn't. Maybe there's always someone willing to believe that the Emperor actually has clothes on when in reality he is naked. Maybe they're simply dupes...

Where I agree, however, is that Boulez was a fine conductor with an extraordinary ear for sonority and detail.

[adriano]

Boulez's three Sonatas were written in 1946, 1950 and 1957, meaning that they are earlier works. The Second is inspired by various poems and paintings; the Third refers to Franz Kafka.

The abovementioned pianists were all other than musical prostitutes.

Here a short introduction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_sonatas_(Boulez)

And here soemthing on Idil Biret's Naxos CD:

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.553353
https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.553353&catNum=553353&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English

I consider it unfair to disapprove music pieces one has never heard.
And (incidentally) the fact that those pieces are "anyway, too difficult to play, so just leave it" is also unfair; it could also be applied to Alkan's works.

I promise to remain silent now on this theme in here... I see it does not make sense to continue trying to awaken some interest for music requiring more brain work and patience (in a way, Fritz Brun's Symphony also may show such aspects). Even if it's beyond the restrictions of this website, it could be refreshing to remind that we have already reached the 21st century and that our ears and brains could do with a bit of adventure; this could eventually make it possible to become able to hear our favourite Romantics with different ears and appreciation...

[Mark Thomas]

OK, I started this thread as a bit of fun and it threatens to be anything but that, so I'm closing it now.