Pierre Boulez
Pli Selon Pli

Five parts make up this long piece by Pierre Boulez, written over six years (1957-62) for a soprano voice and instrumental ensemble. The sung texts and the title of the composition are by Mallarmé, the most abstract of the French symbolist poets, who lends himself well to being set to music by the rational Boulez. Even in "Pli selon pli," we immediately recognize the peculiar characteristics of the French composer, first of all, the extreme refinement of the sound and the ability to make every fragment of the musical material something necessary and irreplaceable.

The first and last parts ("Don" and "Tombeau") are essentially instrumental, with the soprano intervening to quote just two verses of Mallarmé. In the three central parts, however, the voice plays a prominent role while the instrumental ensemble is more restricted: despite these three parts being titled "Improvisation sur Mallarmé" (I, II, and III), there is nothing improvised, on the contrary, there is the usual, spasmodic control of Boulez over all sound parameters (pitches, durations, intensities, timbres) according to the principles of the serial technique he employs.

Music, therefore, of great complexity (both at the level of compositional and instrumental technique, and for the commitment it requires in listening), but the thoroughly French dogma of the pleasantness of the sound remains: a sound embellished by the harp or tubular bells, for example, or even by pitched percussion like the xylophone and vibraphone, or by the refined timbres of the classical guitar and mandolin.

Rarefied passages alternate, indeed, with sharp explosions, especially in the two final parts where there is an increasing density compared to what happens earlier. But it is admirable the control Boulez knows how to exert on such a jungle of sounds, his extreme awareness of the timbral personality not only of each instrument but, it seems, of every note that comes from that instrument and which is made to be savored with clear voluptuousness. It is a demanding listening, as mentioned before, requiring the hour duration of this piece, yet the time surprisingly passes quickly.

In a poem (not used in this composition), Mallarmé describes the fog that dissolves and gradually reveals the stones of Bruges: so in this piece and its five parts is unveiled, fold after fold of the musical fabric (pli selon pli), a musical portrait of Mallarmé. Or rather, a self-portrait of Boulez.