Monday, December 11, 2023

DCCCXXXI. BOULEZ, Pierre: Third Piano Sonata

DCCCXXXI. BOULEZ, Pierre (1925-2016)

Third Piano Sonata (1955-57/63-      )
1. Formant I -- Antiphonie (unpublished)
2. Formant II -- Trope
3. Formant III -- Constellation/Constellation-miroir
4. Formant IV -- Strophe (unpublished)
5. Formant V -- Séquence (unpublished)
6. Sigle
Pierre Boulez, piano
(25:26)

"I have often compared this work with the plan of a city. One does not change its design, one perceives exactly what it is, and there are different ways of going through it. One can choose one's own way through it, but there are certain traffic regulations." - PB

Boulez always referred to the Third Sonata as a "work in progress." Since his death, it is now officially "unfinished." Nevertheless, this 1958 recording with the composer at the piano, might contain at least snippets of the original, unpublished music.

His primary inspirations were Mallarmé and Joyce -- Finnegans Wake, in particular. From his old Darmstadt friendship with Stockhausen, Boulez revisits the idea of a score with no fixed entry point -- but a cyclical form nonetheless -- like FW and Stockhausen's Zyklus (Cycle) ...

In fact, Formant II -- Trope is bound in a spiral, exactly like Zyklus.

"Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end, full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal." -- PB

Critic Peggy Glanville-Hicks figured it out:

" ... organized, stabilized chaos ... not everyone's ear conducts the same arbitration, and Boulez is the perfect example of the humorous caveat, 'you'll like it if you're the type who likes that sort of thing.'"



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