Search - Pierre Boulez, Alfons Kontarsky, Aloys Kontarsky :: Boulez: Structures pour deux pianos

'Structures I' a modern Masterpiece

06/07/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Boulez's Structures I and II are perhaps some of the most important pieces written in the twentieth century. Structures I is the first lucid essay in serialism, flowing from Messiaen's earlier 'Mode de Valuers et D'Intensites,' even expounding on some solutions to problems that occured in 'Mode de Valuers...' such as the fixed register of each pitch and the general rigidness of the structure. Stockhausen's 'Kreuzspiel' is contemporary to Stuctures Ia, which shows the readiness and speed, with which skill in serial composition came to Boulez, as where Boulez corrects problems and ties the work together for the greatest possible comprehensibility with such complex materials, Stockhausen is beset with a rather muddled work aurally, and really produces an inferior copy of the 'Mode de Valuers...'. Boulez produced Structures Ic and Ib later, of which Ib is an essay in the possible flexibility of the serial method. Structures I is a place to begin before examining works such as 'Pli Selon Pli' and 'Le Marteau sans Maitre.' Boulez stated that Structures I was to be his 'Art of Fugue' for the serial method. Indeed, the work spells out the serial method for the composer in analysis, while giving the simplest vision for serialism (monotimbral, berevity of the work overall, the simple organization of Ia and Ic) for the ear to begin the comprehension of an exciting genre of 'modernism.' In an understanding of Boulez, Structures is a place to start (for those who have never heard 12 - Tone music before, I recommend starting with the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern before listening to Structures. Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire' and Webern's 'Symphonie, Op 21' are good places to begin) Structures II is another essay in the flexiblity of serial method, and of Boulez's 'literary' conception of music. Structures II contains 'paranthesis' that a pianist can elect (before the performance) to play or not to play. They are ideas that Boulez did not deem essential to the work, but are extra thoughts he feels add dimensions to the work. Structures II exposes the possibilties of such 'Mobile form,' though it was not a leader in the field, as Structures I was. Aloys Kontarsky has much experience with 'moderist' music, having played under Stockhausen and others. The performance by the Kontarskys is good, and this is the only recording that I know of, in which Structures I is available, which makes this recording an excellent buy, as there is no contest in the performances. Structures II is also available on the Deutsche Grammaphon recording of Boulez's '...explosante fixe'."

I could not speak, and my eyes failed...

Dizaner | Perth, Western Australia | 04/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Usually I don't really feel the need to write a piece when someone has already done so admirably, as is the case here, but I was listening to Structures 1 the other night (as you do) and I for the first time in a long time I was really moved. I know that sounds rather tepid, but I was. Ambiguously moved is the way to describe it because I wasn't happy, nor sad, etc... but I was affected; for a brief instant I felt different about myself and the world I daily re-create. For that moment it was the most beautiful piece of music that I could imagine. It is often remarked how some of Stravinsky's most severe neo-classical music, those works like Symphony of Psalms or the Mass, where he tries to avoid all sodden affectations, are perhaps by virtue of this enforced restraint, curiously emotive. I think the same things applies to this work by Boulez, though in a radically different way.I was born in 1980 so I can no longer really understand the Modernist project in the same way that Boulez 'felt' it. I do feel what may be the sames urges and impulses but they manifest themselves in different ways for different reasons, and demand radically different responses (and I certainly don't mean writing a Symphony in D Major, and anyway I'm not a composer), and feel perhaps conceptually closer in my listening to, for example, Richard Barrett - at any rate, those who have moved it on to a new, almost hyper-modern, stage.Therefore Structures for me stands more as an historical document of a certain place and certain time and a certain way of seeing the world. For all its radical 'newness' it still follows the mythic archetype of destruction and renewal. It is a work of extremes born out of an extreme situation, and a need to surpass what were then the sup(im)posed limitations of human subjectivity. The oft quoted but never used Klee title for 1a, 'At the end of fruitful lands...', seems more poignant than ever as we recede back into the lush undergrowth of contemporary culture where our every need and desire is contructed half an instant before it is half satisifed. The fact that many people born the same year as me will never know about Structures 1 makes me sad, not because they will miss out on some 'high art' or other such [stuff], but because they will miss out on a profoundly motivating exeperience that could help them to once again hack their way out of the jungle. The paradox here is that music at its most ramified and 'artificial' is also music at its most fundamentally powerful. Forget what most people say, this is beautiful music, beautifully played. It is the primal scream of a generation who had reached the end of one path and were about to begin building many more."

The piano music of thought.

Karl Henzy | 12/11/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Structures I and II are every bit as important as the two previous customer reviewers say. I'd just add a couple of things: though Structures II, because it came after (1961 as opposed to 1952) is less of a breakthrough historically, I think it's actually better, musically, with spectacular cadenzas especially in IIb. Also, this is the very best of Boulez, in my opinion. The piano was his instrument, and this music has none of the drawbacks that some of his works for other instruments have (again, in my opinion). The most important thing about both Structures: like Elliott Carter's Night Fantasies for piano, Structures is a music of thought, as Rembrandt's painting centuries ago was a painting of thought. Boulez captures the stops and starts, the sudden "revelations" that turn out not to be revelations, fading quickly, the many crosscurrents of thought, the decisions to concentrate, and the release of effort. What does thought look like? Go back to those Rembrandt portraits of the 17th-century. What does it sound like? Try Boulez's Structures."