I have just been looking through some of Pierre Boulez's programmes, performed with a variety of orchestras and ensembles. When one considers the sorry state of so many, though by no means all, contemporary programmes - whether on account of timid organisation or musicians, or the inroads the 'authenticke' brigade has made into Boulez's 'museum', rendering so much repertoire out of bounds - the very thought of the following comes as a tonic. Here is a small, but mouthwatering sample:
30 January 1959
Cologne (WDR SO)
Webern - Symphony, Two Songs, op.19, Four Songs op.13, Das Augenlicht
Schoenberg - Incidental Music to a Motion Picture Scene, op.34
Boulez - Le soleil des eaux
Stravinsky - Renard
17 April 1964
Munich (BRSO)
Coronation Music from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
Stravinsky - The Flood
Messiaen - Oiseaux exotiques (Yvonne Loriod)
Bartók - Cantata profana
11 March 1965
Cleveland Orchestra
Rameau - Concerts en sextuor, nos 3 and 6
Boulez - Figures-Doubles-Prismes
Debussy, Gigues, Rondes de printemps, Jeux
Stravinsky - Chant du rossignol
15 July 1965
Holland Festival (Hague Residence Orchestra)
Ives - Three Places in New England
Peter Schat - Dances from Labyrinth
Obrecht - Missa Maria zart
7 April 1969
NYPO
Purcell - Fantasias
Stravinsky -Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Webern - Six Orchestral Pieces, op.6
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
15 May 1971
NYPO
Gabrieli - Canzon duodecimi toni a 8, Sonata pian e forte, Canzon septimi toni a 8
Pousseur - Couleurs croisées
Debussy - Première rhapsodie, Images
4 December 1971
Cleveland Orchestra
Haydn - Symphony no.26 in D minor
Webern - Passcaglia, op.1
Berg - Seven Early Songs, Altenberglieder (Halina Łukomska)
Schubert - Symphony no.4 in C minor, D 417
6 March 1972
NYPO
Telemann - Tafelmusik III: excerpts
Berg - Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite
Mozart - Piano Concerto no.27 in B-flat major, KV 595 (Alicia de Larrocha)
Varèse - Arcana
1 November 1972
London BBC SO
Schubert - Ständchen, D 920, Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, D 656, Nachtgesang, D 913
Schoenberg - Herzgewächse, op.20 (Mady Mesplé), Three Pieces, op. posth., Herzgewächse [presumably a second performance]
Nono - Canti per tredici, Ha venido
Webern - Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen, op.2, Two Songs, op.19, Das Augenlicht, op.26
3 April 1974
London BBC SO
Schoenberg - Serenade, op.24
Schubert - Lazarus, S 689
3 November 1974
Leeds BBC SO (on receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Leeds)
Bach-Stravinsky - Chorale Variations on Von Himmel hoch
Bartók - Divertimento for strings
Goehr - Chaconne for wind (first performance)
Boulez - Eclat
Webern - Five Orchestral Pieces, op.10
Haydn - Symphony no.76 in E-flat major
