Pli Selon Pli - The Music

The Music

• Don (1962 version)
  • 3 flutes (II and II doubling on piccolo), alto flute in G, oboe (English horn), E-flat clarinet, clarinet in A, bass clarinet in B-flat, bassoon
  • 4 horns in F, trumpet in D, trumpet in C, tenor trombone, bass trombone, contrabass trombone
  • 3 harps, piano, celesta, mandolin, guitar - guitar and mandolin are both amplified
  • timpanist and 6 percussionists
  • strings

• version nouvelle 1989
  • 4 flutes (3 flutes and alto flute), oboe, clarinet, sopranino clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon
  • 4 horns in F, trumpet in D, trumpet in C, tenor trombone, bass trombone, contrabass trombone
  • mandolin, guitar (both amplified)
  • 7 percussionists playing: Chinese cymbals, snare drum, glockenspiel, chimes, crotales, 2 vibraphones, 3 bongos, 2 xylophones, 2 Bell plates, 3 pr claves, 2 pr maracas, 5 suspended cymbals, 6 almglocken, 3 gongs, 2 tam-tams, 2 bass drums, timpani
  • 3 harps, piano, celesta
  • 4 violins, 4 violas, 5 cellos, 3 double basses

• Improvisation I "Le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui"
  • 2 flutes (both doubling on piccolos), E-flat clarinet, clarinet in A), 2 alto saxophones in E-flat
  • 4 horns in F
  • 8 percussionists: chimes, xylophone, tenor drum, bass drum, 2 vibraphones, 2 cowbells, 2 tam-tams, 6 bongos, 2 snare drums, tuned almglocken (g>c’’), 3 gong, 2 suspended cymbals, 6 crotales (indefinite pitch), optional glockenspiel
  • 3 harps, mandolin, guitar
  • 8 violas, 6 double basses

• Improvisation II "Une dentelle s'abolit"
  • soprano, harp, vibraphone, tubular bells, piano, celesta, 4 percussionist: suspended cymbals, gong, vibraphone, chimes, crotales, 4 pr maracas, 3 pr claves, 2 tam-tams

• Improvisation III "À la nue accablante tu"
  • 3 flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling on piccolo), alto flute in G (doubling on piccolo)
  • tenor trombone
  • 7 percussionists: claves, congas, glockenspiel, chimes, Chinese cymbals, bass drum, 2 xylophones (4 hands), bell plate, 6 almglocken, 5 bongos
  • 3 harps (special tuning required for the two of them), celesta, mandolin, guitar
  • 5 violoncellos, 3 double basses

• Tombeau
  • 2 flutes (1st doubling on piccolo), English horn, E-flat clarinet, clarinet in A, bass clarinet in B-flat, bassoon
  • horn, trumpet in D, trumpet in C, tenor trombone, bass trombone, contrabass trombone
  • 2 harps, piano, guitar, vibraphone, tubular bells, xylophone, bass drum (playing the vibraphone and timbales), gongs (playing the tom-tom and plate bells)
  • 4 violins, 4 violas, 2 cellos, 2 double basses

Each of the five movements is based on a Mallarmé poem, moving from the early "Don du poème" of 1865 in the first movement to the late "Tombeau" of 1897 in the last. Boulez does not use Mallarmé's poems in full, instead taking occasional lines from them (the first movement, for instance, uses just the first line of Mallarmé's poem, and the last movement just the last line).

The fact that the piece moves from an early text to a late one means the work constitutes a sort of biography of Mallarmé, something emphasised by the fact that the last word of the piece (and the only clearly intelligible word of the last movement) is "mort" (death).

The piece has a relatively simple large-scale dynamic shape: the outer movements are written for large ensembles, the second and fourth movements for smaller groups, and the third movement is for a group of just ten instrumentalists and the soprano, meaning the overall tendency is that the piece starts and ends loudly, becoming quieter in the middle. This tendency is emphasised by the opening of the first movement—a loud sound which immediately becomes quiet; and the closing of the last—a rapid crescendo.