Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)

[Karl Henning]

Slipping in the Schubert Symphony #2 was interesting: why that specific symphony?  What about it caught the conductor's eye?

But he had conducted it before, along with other early Schubert symphonies!

e.g.

I'm in!

[brewski]

Slipping in the Schubert Symphony #2 was interesting: why that specific symphony?  What about it caught the conductor's eye?

But he had conducted it before, along with other early Schubert symphonies!

e.g.

A brief glance through the Boulez programs shows he programmed a bunch of Schubert symphonies: Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9, along with the Rosamunde Overture — most multiple times — and some other smaller works (e.g., song transcriptions).

Honestly, I did not see "Boulez loves Schubert" on my bingo card.

[Karl Henning]

Slipping in the Schubert Symphony #2 was interesting: why that specific symphony?  What about it caught the conductor's eye?

But he had conducted it before, along with other early Schubert symphonies!

e.g.

Thanks for this! I might have neglected this symphony forever otherwise.

[Cato]

I just gained access to a massive database from the Cleveland Orchestra with all of the concerts conducted by Boulez from 1964 to 20210.

743 works are listed (but many are listed more than once)!       

Searching for composers and how often their works appeared, I came up with these results:

(Keep in mind again that most works were performed c. three times in one week, so a score of e.g. 11 could mean that only 3 different works were conducted.)

Bach: 11

Bartók: 50

Beethoven: 15  (Symphony #2 especially)

Berg: 26

Berlioz: 52

Boulez: 15

Brahms: 1 (Piano Concerto #1)

Debussy: 104

Haydn: 8

Ives: 11 (but only one work: Three Places in New England

Mahler: 38  (mainly Symphony #5, but also Adagio from Symphony 10, Orchestral Songs)

Messiaen: 32

Mozart: 18

Prokofiev: 7  (mainly The Scythian Suite)

Ravel: 88

Schoenberg: 33

Schubert: 38 (!) and only of Symphonies 3, 4, 5, and 6, with a heavy emphasis on Symphony #5.

Schumann: 6

Stravinsky: 103

Wagner: 11 (Mainly Parsifal excerpts)

Webern: 28


Completely absent: Bruckner, R. Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Respighi, Copland, Elgar, Britten.

Three premieres: his own Figures, Doubles, Prisms, NOESIS by Hans-Peter Kyburz, and Concertante by Marc-Andre Dalbavie.

If you would like me to send you the file with the entire database, send me a P.M. with your e-mail address.

[Cato]

I just gained access to a massive database from the Cleveland Orchestra with all of the concerts conducted by Boulez from 1964 to 20210.

743 works are listed (but many are listed more than once)!       

Searching for composers and how often their works appeared, I came up with these results:

(Keep in mind again that most works were performed c. three times in one week, so a score of e.g. 11 could mean that only 3 different works were conducted.)

Bach: 11

Bartók: 50

Beethoven: 15  (Symphony #2 especially)

Berg: 26

Berlioz: 52

Boulez: 15

Brahms: 1 (Piano Concerto #1)

Debussy: 104

Haydn: 8

Ives: 11 (but only one work: Three Places in New England

Mahler: 38  (mainly Symphony #5, but also Adagio from Symphony 10, Orchestral Songs)

Messiaen: 32

Mozart: 18

Prokofiev: 7  (mainly The Scythian Suite)

Ravel: 88

Schoenberg: 33

Schubert: 38 (!) and only of Symphonies 3, 4, 5, and 6, with a heavy emphasis on Symphony #5.

Schumann: 6

Stravinsky: 103

Wagner: 11 (Mainly Parsifal excerpts)

Webern: 28


Completely absent: Bruckner, R. Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Respighi, Copland, Elgar, Britten.

Three premieres: his own Figures, Doubles, Prisms, NOESIS by Hans-Peter Kyburz, and Concertante by Marc-Andre Dalbavie.

If you would like me to send you the file with the entire database, send me a P.M. with your e-mail address.

I could not find the Kyburz work on YouTube, but here is the Dalbavie:

...and here is the Boulez work:

[brewski]

Found another interesting tidbit, with help from The New York Times and a blog called Concert Annals: four concerts that Boulez led with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

9, 10, 15 February 1973 (in Philadelphia)
12 February (New York)

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Heather Harper, soprano

Debussy: Jeux
Ravel: Shéhérazade
Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra (original version)
Berg: Altenberglieder
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin (complete)