Search - Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann, Rolf Riehm :: Boulez/Lachenmann/Riehm

Great performances of three original voices

Rachel Abbinanti (tusai1@aol.com) | Chicago | 06/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an early work of Lachenmann written between 1981 and 1983 and features a long neglected instrument of the tuba. Lachenmann has found a voice in a rich pallette of noise sounds, scraps, extended techniques with generous amounts of percussion moments on small handheld instruments.He knows how to give mystery to his large timbral canvas. This is not a concerto, so the tuba moments are absorbed into the orchestra. Boulez's "Rituel" was in memory of Bruno Maderna, a wonderful composer and conductor who enjoyed life to its fullest. Maderna's music utilized aleatoric means but nothing ever very vigorous,and Boulez has sections where the conductor decides the tempi,and cues certain gestures,so the conductor becomes a live shaper of the orchestral forces. The work has a static quality,which doesn't redeem itself,in other words the staticism does live a life of its own as it does in the works of Adams,or Nono,or Cage.Here the incessant tam-tam sonority dominates. As always Boulez is a master craftsman of mixtures of wind and strings,with them separated into segregated choirs,so to enhance their unique sounds,unblending. Riehm has long been an active member,writer of the avant-garde scene in Europe. His music leans toward the programmatic with some Leftism,here this work is dedicated to Marxist Hanns Eisler. Riehm wanted to write a work for what the "hearers" hear. And there is a fair amount of density mixed with simple moments.Conductor Hans Zender with this orchestra is a devoted bunch,who listen intently, very engaged performances here."

Don't buy this disc

Ryan M. Hare | The Palouse, WA | 03/19/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"These performances are subpar at best -- sloppy and under-rehearsed. Boulez's own recording of Rituel is vastly superior; sadly there are no alternatives to the other items on the disc. NB the tacking information for the Riehm and Lachenmann is reversed."