Pierre Boulez
Répons
Short instrumentation: 2 2 3 2 - 2 2 2 1 - vln(3), vla(2), vc(2), cb(1) - live electronics
Duration: 45'
Dedication: à Alfred Schlee pour son 80e anniversaire
Solos:
vibraphone
glockenspiel
harp
cimbalom
piano
piano
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
1st oboe
2nd oboe
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
bass clarinet in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
tuba
1st violin
2nd violin
3rd violin
1st viola
2nd viola
1st violoncello
2nd violoncello
contrabass
Boulez - Répons for 6 soloists, ensemble and live electronics
Printed/Digital
Translation, reprints and more
Pierre Boulez
Boulez: RéponsOrchestration: für 6 Solisten, Ensemble und Live-Elektronik
Type: Dirigierpartitur (Sonderanfertigung)
Pierre Boulez
Boulez: Répons for 6 soloists, ensemble and live electronicsOrchestration: for 6 soloists, ensemble and live electronics
Type: Studienpartitur
Pierre Boulez
Boulez: Répons-Partitur für die Live-ElektronikOrchestration: für 6 Solisten, Ensemble und Live-Elektronik
Type: Noten
Pierre Boulez
Boulez: Répons-Technisches HandbuchOrchestration: für 6 Solisten, Ensemble und Live-Elektronik
Type: Noten
Language: Englisch (Großbritannien)
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
Répons is written for six soloists, chamber ensemble, computer sonics and live electronics. Its germ, the impetus of the proliferation, lies in the composition Messagesquisse for violoncello solo and six violoncellos, created in 1976 for the 70th birthday of his Swiss friend and passionate musical patron Paul Sacher.
The title “Répons” is the French word for responsorium, a “dialogue” between cantor and congregation. Boulez’ work often shows an affinity for responsorial forms; in Répons, one hears dialogues of very different kinds: between the chamber ensemble and the soloists: between instrumental families, instrumental groups and individual instruments treated as soloists within the chamber ensemble itself: between the instruments of the soloist group: between transformed and untransformed sound (the soloist group is manipulated electro-acoustically, while the chamber ensemble remains unalienated).
In its sum, Répons is a result of Boulez’ “plurifunctionality,” out of the widely fanned out personal union between the composer and the conductor, the planner, the organiser, the founder and long-time spiritus rector of the IRCAM Institute in Paris.
The idea of a dialogue between unalienated and electronically alienated instrumental sound in real time would not have been possible without the outcome of research at IRCAM.