As far as can be determined by perusing the international catalogs, this 2008 Decca disc contains post-modernist composer/conductor
Pierre Boulez's first recording of a work by high classical composer/performer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Boulez's choice of repertoire is unusual to say the least: neither a symphony nor a piano concerto, but rather a serenade, to be specific, the Gran Partita for 13 wind instruments. One could understand a symphony, possibly the contrapuntal 41st, or a piano concerto, perhaps the driving 20th, but a serenade, a piece of light music designed for entertainment? Could anything seem further from
Boulez's post-modernist aesthetic?
The program makes more sense in context of the coupling:
Berg's Chamber Concerto. Both works are by Viennese composers --
Berg was born and died there,
Mozart moved there and died -- and both call for the unusual ensemble of 13 wind instruments. But the distance between the two pieces is still vast. To start with, the forms are entirely different:
Mozart's work is full of solos drawn from within the ensemble, while
Berg's is a true concerto with a pianist and violin soloists taking the lead. More fundamentally,
Mozart's is an enormously delightful and occasionally affecting tonal work while
Berg's is immensely challenging and only occasionally overtly appealing serial work.
Inevitably, then, one is more curious about
Boulez's
Mozart than his
Berg and more confident about his
Berg than his
Mozart, and, unsurprisingly,
Boulez's approach is arguably more successful in the
Berg than in the
Mozart. Leading his superbly trained
Ensemble InterContemporain,
Boulez's Gran Partita is cool, clear, analytical, and, as often as not, a bit on the quick side. Thanks to
Boulez's superlative ears and crisp technique, everything is absolutely audible and, thanks to the Paris-based chamber orchestra's first-class playing, everything is ideally executed. Listeners looking for elegance and warmth might want to look elsewhere, but listeners who value clarity and lucidity above all may find
Boulez's Gran Partita reading rewarding.
As expected,
Boulez's
Berg is much more successful, partially due to his excellent choices in soloists, pianist
Mitsuko Uchida and violinist
Christian Tetzlaff, and partially due to
Boulez's unsurpassed understanding of
Berg's musical language. As with his
Mozart, everything is absolutely audible and ideally executed, but unlike his
Mozart,
Boulez and his players sound much more committed to the music and
Berg's concerto comes off as much more touching than his
Mozart Serenade. Beautifully recorded by Decca, this disc may please some of the people some of the time and displease the rest of the people the rest of the time, but it seems unlikely to please all of the people all of the time.