Pierre Boulez: Pli Selon Pli (1983)

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Andante Pierre Boulez's masterpiece, Pli selon pli, is a portrait of Mallarmé, whose Surrealist approach is aptly mirrored by Boulez's post-serialist musical language. The verse is a succession of vivid, picturesque, even sinister images unfolding cheek-by-jowl and making no linear sense—it's a series of non sequiturs, inviting you to contemplate the poetic images both alone and in juxtaposition with each other. This verse can engage listeners on a highly personal level, because no two encounters with its imagery are likely to yield anything close to the same reaction. Boulez's natural mode of expression could hardly be more distant from functional, essentially predictable harmony, so his music lends itself to Mallarmé's poetic cognitive dissonance—particularly given the composer's keen sense of color and proclivity for ejaculatory solos, duets and (for lack of a better word) instrumental collisions.

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Without further ado, allow me to resurrect what has been out of circulation for nearly two decades. To this day, it remains downright puzzling but still profoundly beautiful.

Tracklist

1. Pli Selon Pli
2. Improvisation I - Sur Mallarmé: Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui
3. Improvisation II - Sur Mallarmé: Une dentelle s'abolit
4. Improvisation III - Sur Mallarmé
5. Tombeau

Phyllis Bryn-Julson
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez

Erato Records: 2292-45376-2