Berio’s Duetti per due violini: An introduction

This article is the summary of a workshop on the violin duets of Béla Bartók and Luciano Berio, and the pedagogical implications of the works. Bartók’s Forty-Four Duos are based on folk melodies, and in this workshop, we explored how the text of certain melodies are recreated using tone-painting in the music. Luciano Berio’s 34 Duetti were inspired by the Duos of Bartók, and each duet focuses on a specific technique or concept in twentieth-century music. Like Bartók did with his Duos, Berio also intended his pieces to be performed by children as well as professionals. In addition, Berio’s duets are each inspired by a person, story, or event. All duets refer to a person with their surname, including Béla [Bartók] (no. 1), Pierre [Boulez] (no. 14), Edoardo [Sanguinetti] (no. 20), Vinko [Globokar] (no. 22), Igor [Stravinky] (no. 28) or Lorin [Maazel] (no. 33). In this workshop we explored how Berio recreates these inspirations in his music.

Pierre Boulez, Latin America, and the European Avant-Garde After 1950

Recognized as a critic, composer, teacher, conductor and impresario, Pierre Boulez left a huge footprint that defined the trajectory of European concert music during the second half of the twentieth century. With the composition of Le Marteau sans maître (1953–1955) and several subsequent works from the mid-1950s and early 1960s, he established himself as one of the most important composers in his artistic circle. His compositional approach changed radically during the course of this time period. Although many of his pitch organization techniques were only unraveled several decades later, innovations with respect to other parameters of the musical language had a clear and immediate impact. Keeping this in mind, with this intentionally provocative title, I would like to discuss how Latin America played a decisive role in the career of this enormous figure of twentieth-century music. After presenting a brief summary of his professional trajectory, I will discuss the three tours he made of Latin America at the beginning of the 1950s, which, considered within the frame of his interest in ethnomusicology, were crucial to his career. They gave him the space and inspiration for crucial innovations in his development as a composer. By reference to Boulez’s writings, and based on a critical reading of the works that reflect the influence of Latin American music, I will discuss how some of the most important changes in his musical language, like his emphasis on elements of contrast and resonance, were inspired by his experiences on this tour, as much, or more, than by more recognized influences, like Japanese and African music. This has some considerable implications, given that Boulez’s new musical language had tremendous impact on the development of the European avant-garde in the second half of the twentieth century. Haciendo referencia a los escritos del compositor y tomando como base una lectura crítica de las obras que reflejan la influencia que recibió de la música latinoamericana, discutiré cómo algunos de los cambios más importantes en su lenguaje musical fueron inspirados por las experiencias de Boulez en sus giras en esta región, tanto o más que por influencias más reconocidas, como la música japonesa y la música africana. Esto tiene implicaciones importantes, dado a que el nuevo lenguaje musical de Boulez tuvo un impacto considerable en el desarrollo de la vanguardia europea después de la segunda guerra mundial.

Pierre Boulez' "Sonatine für Flöte und Klavier" und ihre neu aufgetauchte Frühfassung

Die Sonatine für Flöte und Klavier (1946) gehört zu den frühesten veröffentlichten Kompositionen von Pierre Boulez. Sie dokumentiert das Bestreben des Zwanzigjährigen, verschiedene Kompositionsverfahren zu einer neuartigen Musiksprache zu verbinden. Beschreibungen des Werks bestaunen den zukunftsweisenden, an Anton Webern orientierten Umgang mit der Zwölftontechnik. Nun sind Dokumente aufgetaucht, die belegen, dass vor der Druckfassung 1949 eine deutliche Überarbeitung stattfand. Wie die Frühfassung zeigt, hielt die Prägung des jungen Boulez durch seinen Lehrer Olivier Messiaen länger an und war stärker wirksam, als man es bisher annahm.

unveröffentlichte Bühnenmusik von Pierre Boulez zu Nietzsches/Barraults philosophischer Prosa-Dichtung "Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra" (1974)

Pierre Boulez' "Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra" nach Friedrich Nietzsche gehört in den Kontext der Entwicklung einer neuen Oper. Die Betrachtung der Skizzen zeigt, dass serielle Musik und Theatralität beziehungsweise Körperlichkeit kein Widerspruch sind. bms online (Oliver Schöner)

Análisis músico-gráfico del Móvil IV de Harold Gramatges

Los Móviles del compositor cubano Harold Gramatges (Santiago de Cuba, 1918-La Habana, 2008) no han sido profundamente estudiados. Dentro de esta serie de obras, se encuentra el Móvil IV para guitarra, el cual fue escrito en 1980, pero responde a la visión estética de la vanguardia musical de la década de 1960. La presente investigación pretende responder a la pregunta: ¿cuáles fueron las técnicas y recursos composicionales utilizados por Gramatges en su Móvil IV? Para ello, se realiza un análisis general de la obra con auxilio de la partitura, el registro sonoro y algunos gráficos, especialmente diseñados para esta investigación, que muestran los recursos y procedimientos técnicos empleados por el compositor y que facilitaron la valoración holística de los múltiples elementos que conforman el discurso musical. También, se aplican conceptos y definiciones de Pierre Boulez que se adecúan a las obras pertenecientes a las vanguardias históricas.

Ontological Appropriation: Boulez and Artaud

This article examines the lessons that Pierre Boulez learned about sound from Antonin Artaud, suggesting that Boulez's ideas about musical writing (écriture) took shape as the composer imagined and appropriated forms of non-European expression. Boulez sometimes acknowledged the influence of ‘extra-European’ sounds in his music, but also insisted that music should not be a ‘simple ethnographic reconstruction’. Artaud, who explicitly ‘reconstructed’ the ethnographic other in a 1947 radio broadcast, will become my foil to show how Boulez's philosophy of writing hinged on an East–West dualism. I follow Boulez to South America with the Compagnie Renaud-Barrault to suggest that he took cues from Afro-Bahian Candomblé when he wrote Le Marteau sans maître. The conclusion reflects on the lessons that Boulez and Artaud might teach us about sound; namely, that recent musicological claims on behalf of the ontology of sound have modernist origins.

‘Filming the invisible’: Barrie Gavin in conversation with John Wyver

Barrie Gavin (b. 1935) is a celebrated producer, director and writer who is best known for numerous programmes about music and musicians made primarily for BBC Television from 1964 onwards. He worked on numerous occasions with the conductors Pierre Boulez and Simon Rattle, and with them and other collaborators he has directed more than 90 films. In this conversation recorded in Leeds in June 2018 Gavin discusses with the writer and producer John Wyver his ideas about making music television, his innovative approaches to filmmaking, his profiles of composers including Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Toru Takemitsu, and his working relationships with Boulez and Rattle.

The Cantatas by Pierre Boulez in the Context of the Main Trends in the Development of Choral Composition of the 20th Century

The article focuses on Pierre Boulez’s choral style in the cantatas “Le visage nuptial” and “Le soleil des eaux”. The versions of these works, created over the course of almost 40 years (from 1951 to 1989), represent a complex of techniques in regard to texture and timbre, which, on the one hand, are a continuation of experiments by composers of the New Vienna School (A. Schönberg, A. Webern), and on the other hand, they preface a number of innovations in the choral style of Boulez’s contemporaries (L. Nono, L. Berio, K. Stockhausen, I. Xenakis). Evidence is provided in favor of the idea that Boulez’s choral works were the logical link between the vocal and choral opuses of the composers of the first and second Western European avant-garde. The article examines the peculiarities of the interaction between the verbal and musical series, the specifics of the textural organization of Boulez’s works, and systematizes the information about the timbre techniques used. Links are identified between the heterophonic presentation typical of Boulez’s choral works and the use of quarter tone notation, glissando reception, and various variants of speech singing (Sprechgesang). The connections between stereophonic effects in the music of Boulez and Nono are traced. An important place is occupied by the study of vocal sound recovery or “vocal emission” technologies (as defined by Boulez). The significance of Schönberg and Webern’s experience in the formulation of the technical foundations of Boulez’s choral timbres is stressed. Special attention is paid to the problem of “work in progress” as one of the defining features of the composer’s choral heritage. Comparing the works by Nono, Maderna, and Bulez, the author concludes the different reasons for which composers came to the concept of “opera aperta” (U. Eco).

Procedimentos Estruturais na Peça A Twilight's Song de Matthias Pintscher

Este trabalho visa analisar os procedimentos estruturais da peça A Twilight’s Song do compositor alemão Matthias Pintscher. A análise terá enfoque em três aspectos: desenvolvimento motívico, articulação global da forma e exploração tímbrica. Utilizando como referência bibliográfica textos de Steve McAdams, Kaija Saariaho, Panayiotis Kokoras e o filme A Lesson by Pierre Boulez, almeja-se descobrir quais técnicas foram utilizadas pelo compositor para alcançar a plenitude formal da obra.