Boulez: Répons; Dialogue de l'ombre double

I have literally waited years to hear Repons and am not disappointed. For years it had been talked about as landmark work from this, the arguably most profound of post-war composers. Boulez, as always succeeds in creating his own hynotic, jewelled, glittering, and almost mystical sound world. It is a sound world which has over the years matured to become even more subtle, more evocative, more obsessively fascinating. Through huge stretches of the work time seems to held in suspended animation only to be allowed to erupt forth from its former captivity with frenetic energy only moments later. Boulez's many enemies have always claimed that his music lacks the power to move the listener. But whoever really listens - yes, really listens to this work can only but be deeply moved, not by its wearing heart on sleeve, but by the sheer sense of boundless awe and wonder which the work so effortlessly evokes. As arpeggio is layered upon arpeggio, and amplified seemingly into infinity the sense of awe is like that of the starry night sky, for like it the impact is not one of a simple and singular emotive response but one that is somehow abstract - and thereby utterly impossible to convey with words. Indeed this is truly one of the artistic landmarks of the 20th century

For several years after Pierre Boulez launched the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris in 1977, critics wondered why he himself had nothing to show in the field of electronic music. But when he finally unveiled "Repons" in 1981, he showed himself a comfortable with the new technology, and many called the work his masterpiece. On this Deutsche Grammophon disc, part of the "20/21" series of new music recordings, we finally get a recording of "Repons", performed by the composer's own Ensemble Intercontemporain with Boulez himself conducting, along with "Dialogue de l'ombre double" for clarinet and electronics.

"Repons", here in its completed 1984 version, is a piece of massive proportions. It is scored not only for orchestra, but also for six soloists (two pianos, harp, vibraphone, xylophone & glockspiel, and cimbalom), and at the time of its unveiling the electronic manipulation of its sounds depended on the behemoth 4X computer. The work also requires a special distribution of the instruments in the concert hall, with six speakers surrounding the audience.

It might sound complicated and eggheaded, but the musical structure Boulez builds out of these parts is ingenious and instantly likeable. The first of its ten sections is a simple chugging along by the orchestra, which sounds just like any ensemble effort. But then, this traditional music is torn asunder by the entrance of the soloists playing six simultaneous chords, amplified and bounced around the hall from speaker to speaker. Each of the soloists then plays individually an arpeggio, whose individual notes are captured by the electronics and themselves broken down into an arpeggio. Then, after a brief orchestral interlude, the soloists play arpeggios again, and this time the electronics generate an arpeggio of an arpeggio of arpeggio. What does this sound like? Just think lots of glittery, metallic sounds that are brilliantly chromatic. And that's just the beginning. Over the course of the work, Boulez displays such electronic wizardry as imposing one instrument's timbre over other sounds (Klangfarbemelodien), sustaining sounds into a shimmery continuum, and repeating certain sounds, with each appearance possessing a different alteration in pitch and rhythm. Finally, the piece has a clear dramatic arc, rare for Boulez, where we warm up slowly, hit a massive climax in the seventh section, and the gently cool down.

"Dialogue de l'ombre double" for clarinet and electronics was written in 1985 for the sixtieth birthday of Luciano Berio. The "dialogue" of the title is between a live clarinet and a pre-recorded and electronically treated clarinet. The work again makes use of the performance space, with the live clarinettist lit while performing and the pre-recorded portions played in darkness and projected from speaker to speaker. The music is lyrical and musing, and the soft interplay of the two elements is quite soothing after the bustle of "Repons". Boulez's writing for clarinet has clearly matured after his earlier solo piece "Domaines", and here Alain Damiens expertly handles Boulez's virtuoso material.

It's a pity that the rich spatial dimensions of the two works are collapsed here into a stereo recording--would that DG reissue this disc in surround sound. Nonetheless, a team at IRCAM developed special software for bringing the stereo sound as close as possible to the live experience, and this recording does indeed make for pleasurable listening. The liner notes are also relevatory, consisting of a description of the two pieces, an interview with Boulez, and IRCAM technician Andrew Gerzo's explanation of how the sound was adapted for stereo. Still, liner notes can only do so much, and if you really want to know more about the technology and theory behind "Repons", I'd recommend Dominique Jameux's PIERRE BOULEZ (Paris: Fayard/Sacem, 1984, with English translation Harvard University Press, 1991).

All of Boulez's late works are exciting, so if you're unsure about this disc, check out "Sur Incises" or "...explosante-fixe..." (also on DG). But any Boulez fan should eventually encounter these brilliant electroacoustical works.

Boulez hesitated to record this masterpiece. And it's odd, very odd that we here the other side of the Atlantic had to wait this long to hear it. Of course you could have been like writer Jean Genet, who returned from a writing assignment in the Middle East to hear "Repons" in Paris. Boulez gives us long,richly textured timbral fields of sounds. You always sense control, that things, the various string tremoli for instance or the fast and frantic,clipped woodwinds never go off uncontrollably. The concept here of arpeggiated sound works well it gives a propulsive impetus,like electric charges,or short lightining bolts recharging the proceedings. Boulez was always fond of the harp and piano broken chords,(arpeggios) and ringing sonorities. This is here repeated as in his vocal works, only with a deep global-like maturity. Moments recede into the deeply textured sustained chords. You have never heard Boulez like this in "Repons" It is music one needs I think to be nourished in some creative emotive way. Long static screens. So powerful was this work that Boulez's people in Paris couldn't help an indirect copy like Peter Eotvos's "Chinese Opera" composers, Murail and Dufourt all owe something here to "Repons" and its conception. The "Dialogue de l'ombre double" when put along "Repons" comes off like a modest etude. Still it is the best piece yet featuring the solo clarinet with its "shadow".

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