Structures for Two Pianos

Pierre Boulez - Structures for Two Pianos

Let's get this show back on the road. I meant to have a new post up on either Tuesday or Wednesday. The cord on my AC adaptor broke while I was visiting family and I used up all of the battery on my laptop which is actually my only computer. I didn't have access to my laptop for the past few days until I made it back home where I have a backup AC adaptor.

Performers: Alfons Kontarsky and Aloys Kontarsky

From the liner notes by Tom Carlson:

Dating from 1955, the Structures are revealed upon close examination as a very logical yet complex arrangement of the materials used. In selecting his material, Boulez arranges the tone row to form a quotation from Messiaen's "Mode de valeurs et d'intensites." This passage is notable for its lack of intervals below six; however, in its inversion, it contains only intervals below seven, and the interworking of the two lines against each other gives the work its initial propulsion. To some degree, the working of musical values might well have been determined by computer, but this is true only up to a point, after which the composer must select a direction for the music to take. The notes used, their duration and dynamics are the result of serial technique, plus pre-determined tables to indicate their interaction. The composer has chosen to use all transpositions of his notes in their original form, inversion, cancrizan and inverted cancrizan, each used only once. Again, these are played with or against the previously determined dynamic shadings and time values. Beginning with the Messiaen quotation, the work is essentially "creatio ex everything," considering the wide variety of technical permutation used in the constructon of the work, and the composer's selection of various treatments to which it is subjected.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. band 1 {3:22}

2. band 2 {8:26}

3. band 3 {2:10}

Side B

1. band 1 {8:26}

2. band 2 {10:32}

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