tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post8115137016287221436..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: Boulez - Rituel In Memoriam MadernaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-45441535741866312442011-10-27T22:58:15.523+01:002011-10-27T22:58:15.523+01:00Thanks for the interesting post, just a small corr...Thanks for the interesting post, just a small correction: Maderna died in November 1973, not 1972.Andreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00284877041962921863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-79751785614236859082007-07-25T23:36:00.000+01:002007-07-25T23:36:00.000+01:00Oliver, I have no knowledge of anyy plans for a co...Oliver, I have no knowledge of anyy plans for a commercial release of the 2004 Parsifal, but readers may have other information.<BR/><BR/>With Boulez's 1970 Bayreuth Parsifal still in the DG catalogue (and only released on CD in 1992) the release of a second version does seem unlikely.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-86447261910862395132007-07-25T22:43:00.000+01:002007-07-25T22:43:00.000+01:00I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this...I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, but do you, Pliable, or any other read of this blog, happen to know if a recording was made of Boulez's 2004 Bayreuth performances of Parsifal, and if so, whether there are plans to release it?Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14961099754096475607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-10384895116579238542007-07-25T08:28:00.000+01:002007-07-25T08:28:00.000+01:00Ah, one my favorite Paths of yours Pliable since I...Ah, one my favorite Paths of yours Pliable since I started to read OAOP two (three?) years ago.<BR/><BR/>I love <I>Rituel in Memoriam Maderna</I>, I listened to it on my iPod a few weeks ago. I wish that there was more than one official recording of it or I could find some live versions on my usual file theft sites. <BR/><BR/>I know Boulez is The Great Bogeyman of 20th Century music along with Schoenberg, and while I certainly don't like all of his pieces, there are some that are among my favorite pieces of music.<BR/><BR/>I went to a performance of <I>Pli selon Pli</I> at the Concertgebouw when I was in Amsterdam recently and despite the excellent performance by the ASKO Ensemble and Barbara Hannigan I wasn't impressed by the piece all that much; I hadn't heard it in a while. <BR/><BR/>I keep hoping that a performance of the amazing <I>Repons</I> will take place in the US so I can easily afford to travel to hear it but it's obviously very complicated to do in a live situation. <BR/><BR/>About 15 years ago (?) Mr. Boulez conducted the four <I>Notations</I> that he had then completed the orchestral versions for here in Los Angeles with the Philharmonic and it was one of the most stunning things I've ever heard in a concert hall. The Phil back then could just barely play the pieces (they'd have no problem now that Mr. Salonen has whipped them in to shape) but what stunning music. I've really wanted Mr. Boulez to come back and conduct here, anything will do, but he hasn't been here in at least a decade. I wonder if he and Mr. Salonen had a falling out? :-(<BR/><BR/>Great picture of the set-up for the <I>Gruppen</I> premiere and what handsome men Boulez and Stockhausen are in the bottom picture. There's apparently going to be a book about the gay aspect of the Darmstadt group appearing soon and while I will buy it instantly, I'm also afraid that the revelations in it will be used to browbeat that group, much like if you read some of the criticism of Britten in the 40's-70's, there's a barely disguised layer of homophobia to it. As if a lot of people needed the gay angle to denigrate the Darmstadt composers, any excuse along the lines of "they killed classical music" will do! :-)Henry Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15871451112170286316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-7649939549166041802007-07-23T18:58:00.000+01:002007-07-23T18:58:00.000+01:00On another matter, Karlheinz Stockhausen's cadenza...On another matter, Karlheinz Stockhausen's cadenza for Haydn's violin concerto isn't half as grotesque as is Alfred Schnittke's famous cadenza for the Beethoven concerto...<BR/><BR/>Epitaphium "für das Grabmal des Prinzen Max Egon zu Fürstenberg" (1959); Double Canon "Raoul Dufy in Memoriam" (1959); and Elegy for J. F. K. (1964) are other Stravinsky memorial examples; which, like the last two you cite, are also hexachordal 12 tone ... [Roger Sessions was perhaps America's leading composer of individualist, public elegies.]<BR/><BR/>Perhaps one could also ask if there are works by Gyorgy Kurtag which do not bare a memorial or other inscription.<BR/><BR/>*<BR/><BR/>(I recall hearing James Levine conduct Bruno Maderna's moving Quadrivium with (I believe) the Juilliard Orchestra, in March 1976. Though I don't recall it being explicitly a memorial performance, it indicated that the young, tremendously gifted James Levine was connected to the world-wide -- and not just American -- classical music world.)Garth Trinklhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11084463787729969177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-73295495556182015022007-07-23T17:34:00.000+01:002007-07-23T17:34:00.000+01:00Boulez's predilection for composing memorial piece...Boulez's predilection for composing memorial pieces is also found in one of his heroes, Stravinsky.<BR/><BR/><I>Symphonies for Wind Instruments</I> for Debussy, <I>Variations</I> for Aldous Huxley, <I>Introitus</I> for T.S. Eliot, <I>Ode</I> for Natalia Koussevitsky and <I>In Memoriam Dylan Thomas</I> immediately spring to mind, but I am sure readers will add more.Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-59264898460906127302007-07-23T17:32:00.000+01:002007-07-23T17:32:00.000+01:00Both Bruno Maderna and Pierre Boulez have recorded...Both Bruno Maderna and Pierre Boulez have recorded Mahler's epic Ninth Symphony. I bought Boulez's account with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when it came out in 1998, but have rarely listened to it since as it had struck me as one work where Boulez's musical <I>sang-froid</I> doesn't really work, particularly in the vital last movement. <BR/><BR/>I dug it out of my 'reserve collection' while writing this post and re-auditioned it. It certainly doesn't have the power of Maderna's reading, but there is some wonderful music making there (and fine playing from the CSO), and I think, perhaps, my judgement was too harsh. I'll keep it out of the reserve collection for some further listening.<BR/><BR/>Now wouldn't it be interesting to hear Karlheinz Stockhausen's reading of Mahler's Ninth?Pliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.com