''Structures I'' (1952) and ''Structures II'' (1961) are two related works for two

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s, composed by the French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

History

The first book of ''Structures'' was begun in early 1951, as Boulez was completing his orchestral work ''

Polyphonie X ''Polyphonie X'' (1950–51) is a three- movement composition by Pierre Boulez for eighteen instruments divided into seven groups, with a duration of roughly fifteen minutes. Following the work's premiere, Boulez withdrew the score, stating that i ...

'', and finished in 1952. It consists of three

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, or "chapters", labelled ''Ia'', ''Ib'', and ''Ic'', composed in the order ''a'', ''c'', ''b''. The first of the second book's two "chapters" was composed in 1956, but chapter2 was not written until 1961. The second chapter includes three sets of variable elements, which are to be arranged to make a performing version. A partial premiere of book2 was performed by the composer and

Yvonne Loriod Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen (; 20 January 1924 – 17 May 2010) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Biography Loriod ...

at the

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

, London, in March 1957. This was Boulez's first appearance in the UK as a performer. The same performers gave the premiere of the complete second book, with two different versions of chapter2, in a chamber-music concert of the

Donaueschinger Musiktage The Donaueschingen Festival (german: Donaueschinger Musiktage, links=no) is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen in south-western Germany. Founded in 1921, it is considered the oldest festiv ...

on Saturday, 21 October 1961. ''Structures I'' was the last and most successful of Boulez's works to use the technique of

integral serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were als ...

, wherein many parameters of a piece's construction are governed by serial principles, rather than only pitch. Boulez devised scales of twelve dynamic levels (though in a later revision of the score these reduced to ten), twelve durations, and—from the outset—ten modes of attack, each to be used in a manner analogous to a

twelve-tone row In music, a tone row or note row (german: Reihe or '), also series or set, is a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets ar ...

. The composer explains his purpose in this work:

I wanted to eradicate from my vocabulary absolutely every trace of the conventional, whether it concerned figures and phrases, or development and form; I then wanted gradually, element after element, to win back the various stages of the compositional process, in such a manner that a perfectly new synthesis might arise, a synthesis that would not be corrupted from the very outset by foreign bodies—stylistic reminiscences in particular.

Discography

Book 1

Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky Aloys (14 May 1931 – 22 August 2017) and Alfons (9 October 1932 – 5 May 2010) Kontarsky were German duo-pianist brothers who were associated with a number of important world premieres of contemporary works. They had an international reputatio ...

, 1960,

Domaine musical The Domaine musical was a concert society established by Pierre Boulez in Paris, which was active from 1954 to 1973. Composers represented at its concerts included Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, John Cage, Sylvano B ...

* Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, 1965, Ariola Tonstudio, Cologne,

WERGO WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by German art historian and music publisher (1903–1975) and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmeyer. Their first release, filed under "WER 60001", was S ...

* Pi-Hsien Chen and

Ian Pace Ian Geoffrey Pace (born 1968) is a British pianist. Pace studied at Chetham's School of Music, The Queen's College, Oxford and the Juilliard School in New York City, New York. His main teacher was the Hungarian pianist György Sándor. Repertoi ...

, 2–5 October 2007, WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck Saal, Hat-Hut * and Nicolas Hodges, 2019, Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin, bastille musique

Book 2

* Pierre Boulez and

, 20–21 October 1961, Hans-Rosbaud Studio, Baden.-Baden. ''75 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage 1921–1996''. 12-CD set, mono & stereo. Col Legno Contemporary WWE 12CD 31899. unich Col Legno Musikproduktion GmbH, 1996. CD 10, Col Legno Contemporary WWE 1CD 31909, includes the world-premiere performance of ''Structures pour deux pianos'', deuxième livre, played by Yvonne Loriod and Pierre Boulez. * Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, 1965, Ariola Tonstudio, Cologne, WERGO * and Pi-Hsin Chen, 30 March 1985, Weinbrenner-Saal des Kurhauses, Baden-Baden, Sony *

Florent Boffard Florent Boffard (born in 1964) is a French classical pianist and pedagogue. Biography Boffard received his first musical training at the Conservatoire National de Région de Lyon. In 1976, he was a pupil of Yvonne Loriod's piano class at the Con ...

and

Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 9 September 1957) is a French pianist. Biography Aimard was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio. In 1973, he was awarded the chamber music priz ...

, October 1994, ESPRO, IRCAM, Deutsche Grammophon * Pi-Hsien Chen and Ian Pace, 2–5 October 2007, WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck Saal, Hat-Hut * Michael Wendeberg and Nicolas Hodges, 2019, Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin, bastille musique

References

Sources * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Work details
Book IBook II

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

{{Authority control Compositions by Pierre Boulez 1952 compositions 1961 compositions 20th-century classical music Compositions for two pianos Serial compositions