music.wikisort.org - Composition

A list of works by the French composer Pierre Boulez.

Compositions

Published

• Douze Notations for piano (1945).
• Sonatine for flute et piano (1946; revised 1949).
• Piano Sonata No. 1 (1946; revised 1949).
• Le Visage nuptial for soprano, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra (1946; revised 1951; revised 1988–89)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948)
• Sonata for Two Pianos (1948); revision of the quartet for Ondes Martenot; withdrawn
• Livre pour quatuor (1948, revised 2011–12); two movements were reworked for string orchestra as Livre pour cordes (1968; revised 1989)
• Le Soleil des eaux for soprano, chorus and orchestra (1948; revised 1950; revised 1958; revised 1965); text: 2 poems by René Char
• Deux Études, musique concrète (1951–52)
• Structures I for two pianos (1951–52)
• Le Marteau sans maître for alto voice and six instruments (1953–55; revised 1957)
• La Symphonie mécanique musique concrète for a film by Jean Mitry (1955)
• L'Orestie incidental music for Aeschylus' trilogy the Oresteia, for voice and instrumental ensemble (1955)
• Piano Sonata No. 3 (1955–57/63); unfinished
• Le Crépuscule de Yang Koueï-Fei musique concrète for the radiophonic play by Louise Fauré (1957)
• Pli selon pli for soprano and orchestra (1957–58, as Improvisations sur Mallarmé I and II; completed 1959–62; revised 1983; revised 1989)
• Structures II for two pianos (1961)
• Figures—Doubles—Prismes for orchestra (1957–58, as Doubles; revised 1964; revised 1968)
• Éclat for ensemble (1965)
• Domaines for clarinet (1968)
• Domaines for clarinet and six instrumental groups (1968)
• Improvisé—pour le Dr. Kalmus for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, and cello (1969; revised 2005)
• Cummings ist der Dichter for chorus and ensemble (1970; revised 1986)
• Rituel – in memoriam Bruno Maderna for orchestra in eight groups (1974)
• Ainsi parla Zarathoustra incidental music for voice and ensemble (1974)
• Messagesquisse for solo cello and six cellos (1976)
• Répons for two pianos, harp, vibraphone, xylophone, cimbalom, ensemble and live electronics (1980; revised and expanded 1982; revised and expanded 1984)
• Dérive 1 for six instruments (1984)
• Dialogue de l'ombre double for clarinet and electronics (1985)
• Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe… originel) for flute and ensemble (1985); an arrangement of the central section from the withdrawn work ...explosante-fixe...
• Initiale for brass ensemble (1987)
• Dérive 2 for eleven instruments (1988; revised 2002; expanded and completed 2006)
• Anthèmes for violin (1991; revised and expanded 1994)
• Fanfare for the 80th Birthday of Georg Solti for brass and percussion (1992; originally titled Dérive 3)
• …explosante-fixe… for solo MIDI flute, two "shadow" flutes, chamber orchestra, and electronics (1991–93); three of nine projected movements
• Incises for piano (1994; revised and expanded 2001)
• Anthèmes II for violin and live electronics (1997)
• sur Incises for three pianos, three harps and three percussionists (1996–98)
• Une page d’éphéméride for piano (2005)

Unpublished

• Nocturne for piano (1944–45), unpublished.
• Prélude, toccata et scherzo for piano (1944–45), unpublished.
• Trois Psalmodies for piano (1945); unpublished, withdrawn.
• Thème et variations for piano, left hand (1945); unpublished.
• Quatuor pour quatre ondes Martenot (Quartet for four ondes Martenot) (1945–46), unpublished.
• Onze Notations (1946); arrangement for chamber ensemble of eleven of the Douze notations, unpublished.
• Symphonie concertante for piano and orchestra (1947); lost
• Polyphonie X for ensemble (1950–51); withdrawn
• Oubli signal lapidé for 12 solo voices (1952); withdrawn
• Poésie pour pouvoir for tape and 3 orchestras (1955/58); withdrawn
• Strophes for flute (1957); unfinished
• Éclat/multiples (1970); Éclat followed by a longer piece for a larger ensemble; unfinished
• …explosante-fixe… for flute, clarinet, and trumpet (1971–72); withdrawn
• …explosante-fixe… new version for flute, clarinet, trumpet, harp, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello, and electronics (1973–74); withdrawn
• …explosante-fixe… version for vibraphone and electronics (1986); withdrawn

Revisions of previous works

• Livre pour cordes (1968; revised 1989); revision of Livre pour quatuor (1948)
• Notations I–IV and VII for orchestra (1978–1984/1997)
• Dialogue de l'ombre double (transcribed for bassoon and electronics, 1985/1995)
• Dialogue de l'ombre double (authorized transcription for recorder by Erik Bosgraaf, 2014)

Sources

• Campbell, Edward, and Peter O'Hagan. 2016. Pierre Boulez Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-06265-8, pp. 25–55.
• Goldman, Jonathan. 2011. The Musical Language of Pierre Boulez. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-67320-5, pp. 215–217.
• Griffiths, Paul. 1978. Boulez (Oxford Studies of Composers). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-315442-0, pp. 62–63.
• Hopkins, G. W., and Paul Griffiths. 2011. "Boulez, Pierre", Grove Music Online, ed. Deane Root (accessed 6 January 2016). (Subscription access)
• Samuel, Claude (ed.). 2002. Eclats 2002. Paris: Mémoire du Livre. ISBN 2-913867-14-6, p. 421–430.

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