9 January 2016

The master without a baton: Pierre Boulez 1925 - 2016


Sadly, Pierre Boulez died earlier this week. Here is a performance of 'Le marteau sans maître', one of the seminal works from the white heat of European music in the 1950s;

Pierre Boulez: "Le marteau sans maitre" for alto voice, alto flute, guitar, viola, vibraphone, xylorimba and  percussion

Donatienne Michel-Dansac (alto voice)
Members of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg
Conducted by François-Xavier Roth 

Baden-Baden; 18th January, 2015


Des yeux purs dans les bois
Cherchent en pleurant la tête habitable

5 comments:

Tantris said...

LeMsM

Alan Burns said...

Thank you - great performance and recording.

Colin Green said...

Agreed, well worth having. Many thanks.

I saw the Nash Ensemble perform this work many years ago, and it was quite a spectacle. One of my favourite recordings is with Yvonne Minton, which I have on LP, but it only made a brief appearance on CD. That's CBS/Sony for you. Hopefully, it will now be reissued.

Alan Burns said...

Colin - I picked up the Minton/Ensemble Vivante recording last year as part of [url=http://www.discogs.com/Various-Masterworks-Of-The-20th-Century/release/7575301]this box set[/url]. Lacks sleevenotes, but an inexpensive way to grab 9hrs of great music.

If you're looking for a quick download - and I hope I'm not breaching any blogger ettiquette here by self-promoting - I posted the Boulez album on [url=http://slowgoesthegoose.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/pierre-boulez-le-marteau-sans-maitre.html]my blog[/url] last week to honour his passing.

Colin Green said...

Thanks Alan, that's terrific. Minton made some lovely recordings with Boulez and this is well worth having.