Igor Stravinsky- STRAVINSKY PAR BOULEZ (Orig..1961)

Stravinsky Par Boulez (ADES 197? - orig. 1962)

From the back cover notes (in French - enclosed):

The works contained in this album were composed between 1914 and 1920,. THis period in Stravinsky's work was named "The Russian Period", but only after the fact. However, during this time he lived in Switzerland, in Salvan, Clarens and Morges; and he composed about fifteen works starting with the Three Pieces For String Quartet (1914) through Renard and Les Noces (1917), to L'Histoire du Soldat and finally Three Pieces For Clarinet (1919). It was in France that he wrote the Concertino For String Quartet and the Symphony For Wind Instruments which ended this period in 1920.
-Andre Schaeffner (Tranlation: Dr.I)

Some observations:
These chamber works, with their stripped-to-the-bone orchestration and tight directness of expression are perfectly suited to the Domaine Musicale under the direction of Pierre Boulez. The dry, direct quality of the recording highlights this well.

Renard; the relatively unheard barnyard fable is a treat, with it's cranky instrumentation and it's caricatured vocals and onomatopoeic touches. And the Concertino For Twelve Istruments (a 1952 Transcription of the 1920 Concertino For String Quartet) has, in my experience, never sounded better.
-Dr.I

Side One:

A1: Renard (Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée) 1916-17 (15:01)

(Cimbalom – Elemer Kiss
Bass Vocals – Louis-Jacques Rondeleux, Xavier Depraz
Libretto By – Igor Stravinsky
Tenor Vocals – Jean Giraudeau, Louis Devos
Conductor [Direction] – Pierre Boulez
French Translation Of Libretto – C.-F. Ramuz)


A2-5: 3 Pièces For String Quartet (1914)

No.1-Danse (:57)
No.2-Excentrique (1:55)
No.3-Cantique (3:34)

(Violins – Jacques Ghestem, Jacques Parrenin
Viola – Michel Walès
Cello – Pierre PenassouEnsemble – Quatuor Parrenin)

Side Two:

B1: 3 Pièces For Clarinet (1919)
1- (1:46)
2- (1:02)
3- (1:13)

(Clarinet – Guy Deplus)


B2: Concertino For 12 Instruments (1952 revision of Concertino for String Quartet from 1920)

(Trombone [Bass] – Maurice Suzan
Oboe – Claude Maisonneuve
Bassoon – André Rabot, Jean-Pierre Laroque
Flute – Jacques Castagner
Trombone [Tenor] – René Allain
Cello – Pierre Penassou
English Horn – Paul Taillefer
Violin – Jacques Parrenin
Clarinet – Guy Deplus
Trumpet – Jacques Lecointre, Pierre Pollin
Conductor [Direction] – Pierre Boulez )


B3: Symphony For Wind Instruments (1920 - rév. 1947)
("In Memory of Claude-Achille Debussy")

Conductor– Pierre Boulez



















Composed By – Igor Stravinsky
Performed By - Orchestre Du Domaine Musicale
Coordinator [Collection Conducted by] – Pierre Boulez
Layout – Maurice Tapiero
Liner Notes [French] – André Schaeffner, Pierre Boulez
Producer – Lucien Adès
Recording Supervisor – Jacques Pradère

Recorded at Studios Europa-Sonor, Paris

Stereo version: ADES 16-010
Originally released in mono in 1961
'
re-up:
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Olivier Messiaen/Arnold Schoenberg split release

Olivier Messiaen/Arnold Schoenberg - split release

All music on LP performed by Domaine Musicale Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez

Other performers on "Seven Haikai":

Yvonne Loriod - piano
Strassbourg Percussion Ensemble

SEVEN HAIKAI

This work was written in 1962, following a trip to Japan. Although no poems are included in it, the title HAIKAI denotes that the seven pieces are short, like the Japanese poems bearing that name. The dedication, on the other hand, is long, but bears citation:

"TO YVONNE LORIOD, TO PIERRE BOULEZ, TO MME. FUMI YAMAGUCHI, TO SEIJI OZAWA, TO YORITSUNE MATSUDAIRA, TO SANDAU BEKKU AND MITSUAKI HAYAMA, TO THE ORNITHOLOGIST HOSHINO, TO THE LANDSCAPE, TO THE MUSIC, AND TO ALL THE BIRDS OF JAPAN."

Here is a brief analysis of each of the seven pieces:

I - INTRODUCTION

Cencerros, bells, trumpet, trombone and metallic percussion introduce Indian rhythms dedicated to the three Shakti. The piano and woodwinds play a retrograded rhythmic canon. The xylophone and marimba play a Metabole of the Tala Simhavikrama (force of the lion) and of Tala Micra-Varna (mixture of colors). The violins then play a melodic phrase, of which we hear only the first strophe (the second strophe is heard in the seventh piece).

II - THE PARK OF NARA AND THE STONE LANTERNS

The Nara region in Japan. Four Buddhist temples in a park. Does and stags roam about freely. The sun's rays play among the Cryptomerias along the main path. 3,000 stone lanterns press together and out of view.

III - Yamanaka - CADENZA

The birds singing in this place were heard in the forest near Lake Yamanaka at the foot of Mount Fuji. They are almost the same birds heard in the sixth piece, but one must add Misoszai, a Japanese Troglodyte portrayed by the xylophone, and Aka-Hara, a red-sided thrush, portrayed by the English horn. Aoji, a Japanese masked bird and Oruri, a blue Japanese fly eater were observed at Subashiri. The three piano "cadenzas" portray successively:
(a) first cadenza: KIBITKA, a narcissistic fly eater;
(b) second cadenza: HOAKA, a grey-headed bird and Hibari, a Japanese meadow-sparrow;
(c) third cadenza: KURU TSUGUMI, a Japanese blackbird.

IV - GAGAKU

GAGAKU is the noble Japanese music of the VIIth century. It is still performed at the Imperial court. We hear only the two main timbres of this music: SHO (mouth organ), replaced by an ensemble of 8 violins, and HICHIRIKI (primitive oboe), replaced by trumpet.

V - MIYAJIMA AND THE TORII IN THE SEA

This is perhaps the most beautiful spot in Japan. It is a mountain island covered with dark green Japanese pines and maples that turn red in autumn. A Shinto Temple, white and red, with a great red portal opening onto the deep blue sea. To all these colors, the musical harmonies of woodwinds, brass, violins and bells (and also the resources of CROTALES, piano and triangle) add other combinations: grey and orange-gold, silvery red, lilac and violet-purple.

VI - THE BIRDS OF KARUIZAWA

The birds singing in this piece were heard in the vicinity of Karuizawa, in a mountain and Japanese pine setting. Some were heard in the woods, near a gorge and a small stream not far from the Asama volcano, where bright-red azaleas flourish. Some of the main birds are:
(a) UGUISO, a Japanese songbird that has two songs: the first is a long, swelling note, followed by a victorious, rapidly descending trill and continuing in a third, interrupted and repeated many times, slowing progressively. UGUISO is represented by the trumpet and woodwind ensemble. (b) HOTOTOGUISO, a small grey-headed cuckoo that sings an odd fanfare of five or six notes. HOTOTOGUISO is represented by trombone, bassoons and clarinet.
(c) KIBITAKI, a narcissistic fly eater whose song is of repeated strophes, sometimes quite numerous. Its plumage is yellow-orange and black, a great yellow brown, great white spots on the wings. KIBITAKI is played by four clarinets, as well as xylophone and marimba.
(d) ORURI, a blue Japanese fly eater. Its head and coat are blue, and the belly white, throat and breast black.
(e) AOJI, a Japanese masked bird, whose song consists of rapid, separated leaps.
(f) SAN KO CHO, another fly eater with head and throat of violet-black, white belly, a reddish-brown coat, and a pale-blue circle around each eye, with a very long tail. SAN KO CHO is played by xylophone and marimba.
(g) KURO TSUGUMI, the Japanese blackbird, whose varied song differs from that of the European blackbird.
(h) MEJIRO, a bird of tender green plumage with white circles about its eyes. In the piano cadenzas we hear BINZUI, Hodgson's songbird, and O-YOSHIKIRI, a reddish oriental bird. There are at least a dozen other Japanese birds heard in this work.

VII - CODA

Given by the CENCERROS, bells, trumpet, and metallic percussion, a suite of Indian rhythms, dedicated to the three SHAKTI. Piano and woodwinds again take up the retrograded rhythmic canon of the first piece. The sequence is reversed, however, and the violins play the conclusion, or second strophe, of the melodic phrase heard in the first piece. (Olivier Messiaen)

CHAMBER SYMPHONY OP. 9 (1906) for fifteen solo instruments

The CHAMBER SYMPHONY, composed in 1906, is years ahead in concept and content. Although the romantic heritage of Brahms, Mahler and Wagner is not to be denied, one may already discern the forces which were to emerge fully in the mature Schoenberg. The form itself reveals a compactness: the different parts of a symphony in one unit, a device favored by the Vienna school, particularly by Alban Berg. The symphony corresponds to the following scheme:

I - Exposition of two themes, with a repeat of the principal theme and transitional segments between each.
II - Scherzo and trio with repeat.
III - Development (in three parts)
IV - Slow movement
V - Repeat of the thematic material of the first part in a more elaborate form, modified and in the nature of a Finale.

THREE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA (1910) for an ensemble of instrumental soloists

The THREE PIECES were only discovered in 1957 among some papers left by the composer. Dating from 1910, a year before Schoenberg wrote the Six Little Pieces for Piano, op. 19, they reflect the composer's preoccupation with extreme economy of means and maximum concentration of form. It also illustrates the principal of non-repetition, emphasizing variability, asymmetry, and plurality, shedding new light on this aspect of Schoenberg's thought. (Jean-Claude Eloy)

Tracklisting:

Side 1 (All tracks by Olivier Messiaen)

1. Seven Haikai: I. Introduction {1:50}

2. Seven Haikai: II. The Park of Nara and the Stone Lanterns {1:30}

3. Seven Haikai: III. Yamanaka-Cadenza {3:39}

4. Seven Haikai: IV. Gagaku {2:57}

5. Seven Haikai: V. Miyajima and the Torii in the Sea {1:24}

6. Seven Haikai: VI. The Birds of Karuizawa {5:33}

7. Seven Haikai: VII. Coda {1:53}

Side 2 (All tracks by Arnold Schoenberg)

1. Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 {17:08}

2. Three Pieces for Orchestra {1:55}

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Pierre Boulez Conducts The Domaine Musical Ensemble

The Domaine Musical Ensemble - Pierre Boulez Conducts The Domaine Musical Ensemble

Excerpts from the liner notes:

Arnold Schoenberg - Verklaerte Nacht, Op. 4

Arnold Schoenberg composed the string sextet VERLAERTE NACHT in three weeks during a holiday he took in September of 1899, when he was twenty five years old. The premiere performance took place in Vienna in 1903. Together with Guerrelieder and the symphonic poem Pelleas at Melisande, Verklaerte Nacht is one of the most significant works of Schoenberg's first creative period, full of the flamboyant expressiveness traceable across the metamorphosis of his musical language and that of the Vienna School. Undeniably, there are traces here of Wagner: harmonically, we are reminded of Tristan. The specific nature of Schoenberg's chromaticism, however, unlike Wagner's is linear and transcends tonal control.
Although cast in a unified mould, Verkaerte Nacht is in five parts that follow closely the construction of the poem by Richard Dehmel, that inspired the work. On the one hand, the work is rhythmically unstable and modulates constantly when the two persons express themselves (the woman's confession, etc.). On the other hand, when presenting the idea of place (moonlit universe, gently starlit night, etc.) the tonalities become fixed and rhythms more stable.
The work is often performed in Schoenberg's own transcription for string orchestra, but the version here presented is the original one for string sextet.

Jean-Claude Eloy - Equivalences

The title "Equivalences" refers to numerous aspects of the piece and should be interpreted in the sense of an equilibrium between contrasting forces. In the simplest terms, there is the deployment of musical instruments: A triple symmetry in an arc formed by 6 percussionists, 3 groups of winds and piano-celesta with harp. On a higher plane, we may regard it as a depiction of the contrasting elements that make up the work; density: zero to maximum; registers: fixed to mobile; coordination: absolute to relative, etc. The whole form itself reflects these oppositions, this dialectic play, whence derives a contrasting sonority, an extension of the dynamic field.
Certain structures are variable from one performance to another, utilizing modifiable intensities that affect mainly the duration of the percussion instruments' resonances, to illustrate: a contrast is created between wind instruments producing long held sounds on the one hand, and on the opposite side are percussion instruments, piano, harp, etc., producing sounds of rapid growth and decay. Bit by bit, these sounds are drawn closer until they are confronted. The movement continues, until the sounds are at their initial state, but on opposite sides: the winds producing "pointed" sounds, while the percussion instruments, by means of complicated trills, etc., produce long held sounds. Henri Pousseur describes this development as an "arc of duration".
Equivalences had its premiere performance at the Darmstadt Festival in July 1963 under the direction of Pierre Boulez.

Henri Pousseur - Madrigal III

HENRI POUSSEUR was born at Malmedy, Belgium in 1929. He studied at the Liege and Bruxelles Conservatoires from 1947 to 1953. From 1954 to 1957 he worked at the electronic music studios of Radio Cologne and Milano. He is co-founder and, since 1958, director of the APELAC studio in Bruxelles. He has authored important theoretical works on contemporary music, and has given lecture cycles at Darmstadt and other centres.
Madrigal III for clarinet, violin, cello, 2 percussion instruments and piano was composed in the spring of 1962 and dedicated to the memory of Wolfgang Steinecke, since 1945 the daring promoter of the Darmstadt Festival.
This work comprises almost all of Madrigal I, written four years earlier for clarinet solo. For Pousseur, the earlier work represented a first and almost unconscious attempt to reactivate the harmonic values that post-Webernian music had almost neutralized. Pousseur made a more resolute attempt in this direction in Votre Faust. In Madrigal III, this reactivation is still dependent on dodecaphonic material, and crystalizes around a process of frequent and variable repetition of the constituent notes of an harmonic "field".

Tracklisting:

SIDE 1

1. Arnold Schoenberg - Verklaerte Nacht, Op. 4 {28:27}

SIDE 2

1. Jean-Claude Eloy - Equivalences {8:28}

2. Henri Pousseur - Madrigal III {12:00}

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