DCXXXV. BOULEZ, Pierre: Sur Incises

DCXXXV. BOULEZ, Pierre (1925-2016)

Sur Incises (1996-98)
1. Moment I
2. Moment II
Hidéki Nagano, piano
Dimitri Vassilakis, piano
Sébastien Vichard, piano
Ségolène Brutin, harp
Frédérique Cambreling, harp
Bleuenn Le Friec, harp
Gilles Durot, percussion
Samuel Favre, percussion
Victor Hanna, percussion
Matthias Pintscher, cond.
(39:25)

The Swiss conductor and contemporary music champion Paul Sacher was also reputed to be the richest man in Europe (he married well; the heiress to the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical company [had any Valium lately?].

For his 70th birthday, the great Russian cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich asked twelve composers* to write pieces based on a hexachord which spelled out SACHER:

S is German notation for E-Flat; H for B-Natural and R for Re (D in Solfège).

* Conrad Beck, Luciano Berio, Boulez, Benjamin Britten, Henri Dutilleux, Wolfgang Fortner, Alberto Ginastera, Cristóbal Halffter, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Klaus Huber and Witold Lutosławski.

**

Boulez dedicated this to Sacher for his 90th birthday.

Organized delirium. Important music.