Happy 90th B-Day, Pierre Boulez!
Olivier Messiaen: “Beneath it all, Pierre Boulez is simply a poet.”
Soprano Marisol Montalvo sings Pierre Boulez’s “Pli selon pli” live with L’Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Matthias Pintscher. “Pli selon Pli” is a set of five songs based on poems by Stéphane Mallarmé. It is for me one of the seminal 50s/60s musical compositions & bears returning to again & again. Details on composition & the poems available here; see also the following homage in the Guardian.
Bartok’s birthday too, pieces at the blog (he says blogwhoringly).