Conception and Composition
The piece was begun in 1957 with the composition of the first two "Improvisations on Mallarmé" for soprano and percussion ensemble. In 1959 a third "Improvisation" was written, for soprano, instrumental ensemble and a large group of percussion, together with "Tombeau", for soprano and large orchestra. In 1960, what is now the opening movement of the piece, "Don", was completed in a version for soprano and piano. In 1962, this movement was rescored for soprano and orchestra, and "Improvisation I" was also rescored, completing the work in its initial form.
As with many of his other pieces, Boulez later returned to the work and revised it. In the 1980s "Don" was rewritten and "Improvisation III" was revised. In both cases, Boulez removed some flexibility which had previously been allowed in the order in which sections of these movements might be played.
Improvisation II contrasts "three different kinds of sounds—fixed pitch, partially pitched, and unpitched ('noise')".
Read more about this topic: Pli Selon Pli
Famous quotes containing the words conception and, conception and/or composition:
“We are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of Time. And there are but two means of escaping and forgetting this nightmare: pleasure and work. Pleasure consumes us. Work strengthens us. Let us choose.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one. To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man, and in the South the general conception of man is still, in the main, theological.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whose composition was poured a little alloy of bell-metal. Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of my contemporaries.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)