Pierre Boulez, Notation 1, autograph copy of 1985(Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel)About Pierre Boulez's Douze Notations
Douze Notations pour piano have a special place in the musical output of Pierre Boulez (1925-2016). For one thing, ever since their belated publication in 1985 these short piano pieces have headed the work list of this extremely self-critical composer. For another, Boulez frequently drew on these fledgling compositions in his later music. Finally, this collection of 1945 offers fascinating insights into the compositional workshop of the then 20-year-old composer.
A journeyman composition
Pierre Boulez's years of study took place under the formative influence of Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz. Both musicians introduced him to musical worlds he had never known before. Douze Notations pour piano reflects these influences, while bearing witness to the young composer's originality.
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Composing within narrow confines
Pierre Boulez's Notations is a prime example of the productive powers that can result from radical self-restriction. The limits that the 20-year-old composer imposed on himself were unimaginably narrow: 12 pieces, each 12 bars long, and all based on the same 12-note row.
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Musical metamorphoses
Up to his death in 2016, Pierre Boulez returned time and again to his Douze Notations pour piano. In the late 1970s he produced a series of orchestral pieces that adopt, rethink and rework the musical material of the earlier collection. But he had already returned to Notations in works of the 1950s.
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History and context
Musical metamorphoses
Composing within narrow confines
A journeyman composition
History and context
Credits
Boulez video interview
Inside the score