Boulez: Domaines

On this CD:

1. Domaines, for clarinet & 21 instruments in 6 groups
Composed by Pierre Boulez
Performed by Michel Portal, Musique Vivante Ensemble
Conducted by Diego Masson

Tracks:

Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): I.
Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): II.
Three pieces For Clarinet Solo (1918): III.
Lied per clarinet solo (1983)
Sequenza IX per Clarinetto solo (1980)
In Freundschaft, Op.46
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): I.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): II
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): III.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): IV.
Asceses pour clarinette (1967): V.
Quatour pour la fin du temps (1940): Abime des oiseaux
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier B
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier C
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier E
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier A
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier D
'Domaines' pour clarinette seuls (1968): Cahier F

Customer Reviews:

very virtuosic.......2003-11-22

The pieces on this cd are very difficult to perform & on this cd are performed so perfectly. A great collection of 20th century music.

Great cd.......2001-08-28

Paul Meyer plays incredibly here. I can't imagine why anyone would be disappointed with his sound. No, it's not the French sound of 40 years ago, but it's a beautiful, flexible sound that works beautifully in these pieces. The pieces on the cd are some of the high points in clarinet literature in the twentieth century. The Berio Sequenza especially is an incredible piece of music for the clarinet. Anyone interested in the clarinet should have this cd.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SWEET FRENCH EMBOUCHURE?.......2000-10-22

As Ignatius Gennusa use to tell me, "anyone can blow into a clarinet and push buttons; very few people these days seem to care about a beautiful tone such as Ralph McLane's, however".

And I say Mr Gennusa would find this clarinetist's sound rather painful; I unquestionably do. And, thus, herein the tone quality cries out as the major dissapointment with this disc.

Paul Meyer: 20th Century Music for Unaccompanied Clarinet.......2000-08-25

As usual, I am quite impressed by the performance by Paul Meyer. Although he sometimes plays pieces a little on the fast side, his interpretations were in good taste. I was a little surprsied by his tone in the Stravinsky 3 pieces. Of the CD's I own performed by him, I always thought his tone had focus and a rich tone, but this selection on the CD wasn't quite what I was familiar with in his playing. However, a wonderful performance of Andre Jolivet's "Asceses pour clarinette". How often do I hear clarinet players struggle with multiphonics and just contemporary works in general. I would recommend this CD.

Average customer rating:

Not so well known gem.

Boulez: Domaines

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Pierre Boulez: Rituel / Eclat / Multiples - Ensemble InterContemporain / BBC Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez: Pli selon pli; Livre pour cordes

ASIN: B00005B6RJ
Release Date: 2001-07-10

Customer Reviews:

Not so well known gem........2002-02-09

I purchased this recording for a number of reasons.
To begin with, the lable is one of the finest that Europe has to offer. Secondly, Boulez is one of the most fascinating musians of the past half century. Also, this work is relatively limited in availability, so for the price I don't mind the short playing time. I found the wide variety of textures of this splendid music most delightful.

Pierre Boulez: Domaines - Ensemble Musique Vivante

Average customer rating:

marvelous metamorphosis of a dull solo for clarinet

Pierre Boulez: Domaines - Ensemble Musique Vivante
Ensemble Musique Vivante , Michel Portal , and Diego Masson
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Domaines: Premi Partie
Domaines: Deuxi Partie

Customer Reviews:

marvelous metamorphosis of a dull solo for clarinet.......2000-05-16

An interesting aspect of Boulez's creativity is his continuous revisions or rethinking,redeploying of works. It is not revisions to correct technical imperfections,that would be far too simpleminded I think, but more for Boulez it is creating a situation for exploring the conceptual possibilities of a specific work,to see the true horizon of a work. Certainly this was not the case in the early works, the Soliel Des Eaux,for voices and orchestra. That was written by a young violent and arrogant (at times) serial innovator in the early Fifties, a composer with no skills at orchestration or the subtleties of instrumental timbre. His subsequent new life as conductor certainly filled this void profoundly. Domaines here is an excellent example of Boulez's interest in keeping an element of his work free from a fixed scheme or duration and yet probing the creative possibilities that remain fixed and static. This began with his Third Piano Sonata,but as that work exhibits and all subsequent ones, Boulez had mapped out fairly vigorously the routes and circumventions the works unfolding may take by the performer,yet specific sections were completely written as fixed axis, almost like a mobile of fixed structural configurations that rotate around an axis, the changes however become predictable over repeated experiences. Domaines somewhat functions in this realm, here begun as a modest solo for Bb Clarinet with colourful extended timbres,multiphonics gently placed,within a shifting emphasis on the timbral registers of the instrument, from its upper piercing ,strident range to its relativily dull and dark lower schalamo register. It was first performed as a solo in 1968 at Ulm,also Brussels and Donaueshingen the same year.It works very arduously as a solo, mannered gestures that seem to inhabit an enclosed space, a timid self-conscious gestural space.The Clarinet is not a striking instrument full of other-wordly emotive timbral heavens as the flute of cello. Boulez's instincts to impart and surround the solo with varying densities of 21 instruments,in 6 groups was indeed a fascinating resolution, to what was a relativily again a tame and dull at times clarinet solo. The Clarinet however remains the fixed point of interest and magnetic attraction, freely moving physically sometimes within the placement of the brethren yet subservient ensemble. The conceptual plan to deal with this duality is the "Original" the clarinet and its "Mirror" the ensemble divided into 6 fixed groups.In the "Original" each section has its own instruments which remain to identify it, a fixed timbral configurations which the Bb Clarinet subsequently adds a commentary, or an embellishment. So for instance Section A is alto trombone, 2 tenor trombones and one bass trombone, Section c interestingly is a marimba with Contrabass, which here sounds very jazzy in a free Boulezian melodic language. The Clarinet then has fixed sections which can be played in a prescribed order,but may change between performances, also the placement of the 21 instruments is free,but once determined remain fixed. On this recording the clarinet plan "Original" is ADCBEF, and the ensemble DCEABF, the Clarinet comes first as a prelude then so follows the Ensemble.So the Clarinet is always an interruptive interlude. The result however of all this freely determined descipline is a wonderfully coloured and inventive dialogue between the clarinet and the ensemble. The problem is that the clarinet still sounds (to me anyway) dull and uninspired when contrasted with the fascinating and vibrant sounds of the ensemble, the powerfully punctuated trombones of Section A for instance or the ethereal sounding strings of Section B. Section D is also fascinating with wistfull fluttertonguing in the flute with muted trumpet and alto sax,bassoon and harp. All these instrumental colours Boulez projects with utmost clarity,yet forcefull chordal statements contrasted with fast furioso single lines, running up atonal-like scales or filigrees. The work also has a gentle charm,poetic which the clarinet at times disrupts like an uninvited guest.

Average customer rating:

Les Classiques du XX Siecle

Manufacturer: Musique D'abord
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

Laborintus 2: Premiere Partie - Christiane Legrand/Janette Baucomont/Claudine Meunier/Edoardo Sanguineti
Laborintus 2: Deuxieme Partie - Christiane Legrand/Janette Baucomont/Claudine Meunier/Edoardo Sanguineti

Tracks: