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Maître avec marteaux London
Royal Festival Hall
02/01/1999 -
Royal Festival Hall
1 February 1999
Pierre Boulez : Éclat/Multiples, Le visage
nuptial, cummings ist der dichter, Notations I-IV
Christine Schäfer (soprano), Susan Parry (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Queen Elizabeth Hall
2 February 1999
Wolfgang Rihm : Gedrängte Forme (UK première)
Gérard Grisey : Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil
Pierre
Boulez : sur Incises
Valdine Anderson (soprano)
London Sinfonietta
George Benjamin (conductor) The BBC Symphony Orchestra's concert on Monday 1 Februrary, "Pierre Boulez:
a portrait", presented four contrasting and characteristic works.
Éclat/Multiples presents an early stage of a serial
development that begins with scattered percussion and has reached the first
addition of eight violas. Le visage nuptial is a setting for
soprano, mezzo and women's voices of the dense poetry of René
Char, which celebrates the union of opposites in an overcrowded sound
world. Christine Schäfer and Susan Parry sang with a powerful
combination of intensity and detachment. cummings ist der dichter is
a short playful piece, expertly performed by the BBC Singers. Notations
I-IV is also the first phase of work in progress, a set of short, dense
studies for orchestra developed from piano studies. Andrew Davis and the
BBC Orchestra delivered them with exhilarating, if mechanical, energy and
style.
Boulez' sur Incises formed the second part of the concert on 3
February. This is also a serial development from a piano work, now for
three pianos, three harps and percussion. Dramatic, as performed by the
London Sinfonietta, and less schematic than Notations, it would
normally have been an excellent choice as the focus for this programme.
Sadly, the death of Gérard Grisey in November 1998 threw the
emphasis on to his new work Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil.
This striking work is, ironically, a setting for soprano and orchestra of
texts from four different traditions that reflect on death and the
afterlife. The first, "the death of the angel", is from a poem by Christain
Guez Ricord. The singer barks separate syllables of the text, with
sustained high notes on the second syllable of "mourir" (die) and the word
"ange" (angel). The second text is an extract of a catalogue of texts from
Egyptian sarcophagi of the Middle Empire, including the catalogue numbers
and notes. Words like "détruit" (destroyed) and "presque
entièrement effacé" (almost entirely obliterated) contrast
with the vision of immortality in the texts themselves, which are set,
again, with high sustained notes. A short poem by the Greek poet Erinna
reflects on the death of the voice in the underworld, and a section of the
story of the flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh is set as disjointed
syllables which gradually come together as a narrative that suggests new
life and light after the flood.
Valdine Anderson looked nervous and seemed under-rehearsed, but she gave a
powerful and committed performance which ended triumphantly. The London
Sinfonietta seemed also slightly insecure. But the reflective depth and
beauty of this work came through movingly. It is tragic that it cements
Grisey's status as a leading contemporary composer but also serves as his
memorial.
H.E. Elsom
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