PIERRE BOULEZ • Répons

Salzburger Festspiele
various, Salzburg, Austria
Austria
ttel.: +43-662-8045-500
http://www.salzburgfestival.at/

Matthias Pintscher, Conductor
Hidéki Nagano, Piano
Sébastien Vichard, Piano
Frédérique Cambreling, Harp
Luigi Gaggero, Cymbal
Samuel Favre, Vibraphone
Gilles Durot, Xylophone
IRCAM: Andrew Gerzso and Gilbert Nouno, Electronic Realization
Ensemble intercontemporain

‘It is not enough to construct one’s revolution, one must also dream it’: thus, Pierre Boulez once formulated his artistic credo. It would never have been enough for him to appear only as a prophet of the avant-garde and a radical revolutionary, administering fundamental criticism to rigid, anti-modernist structures with his notorious demand to blow up all opera houses. Instead, as a composer he was always a sensuous poet of sound, striving quite traditionally for technical mastery and personal expression in equal measure, also and especially when experimenting with the latest techniques, such as guided chance and live electronics – a dedicated explorer and reformer. Reflecting his search for perfection and the ideal implementation of his thoughts, many of his pieces have undergone various stages of development, growing in scope, instrumentation and duration and thereby becoming others, as if they were living organisms undergoing maturation. If Salzburg contemporary takes Pierre Boulez’s 90th birthday as an occasion to focus on his eminent œuvre, naturally this includes some of the great key works of New Music of the past 70 years – interpreted by the friends, students and comrades-in-arms of this singular musician, who has also made history as a conductor. With the French tradition ranging from Debussy to Boulez’s influential teacher Olivier Messiaen, and the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, the series also highlights some of the music of the past that influenced Boulez. These works are complemented by a new piece by Olga Neuwirth, whose music Pierre Boulez is very fond of: a portrait of the artist as an ageless man.

Walter Weidringer

Translated by Alexa Nieschlag


Pierre Boulez : Répons