Répons
Encyclopedia
Répons is a composition by French
composer
Pierre Boulez
for a large chamber orchestra with 6 soloists and live electronics. It was premiered on the 18th of October in 1981 at the Donaueschingen Festival
and subsequently expanded until its completion in 1984.
Répons was the first significant work to come out of Boulez's endeavors at IRCAM
, an institute in Paris devoted to making technological advances in electronic music, and it has been celebrated for its integration of the electronic and the acoustic. The piece's title, Répons, is derived from the fact that the composition is built from a number of responses. The contrast between acoustic sounds and electronic responses to them, and also the medieval idea of responsorial mirroring between players and speakers in different parts of the concert hall, both play important roles in Répons.
Boulez said this about the use of metre and harmony in Répons,
has suggested that he believes that Répons may become viewed as 'one of the most significant works of the 20th century.' Consistent with Boulez's compositions in general, one of the common praises of Répons is its internally consistent style. The piece is also praised for its use of a wide variety of modern compositional resources, "including electronic manipulation, spatial acoustics, innovative coloring, and even a quasi-minimalist use of repetition."
recording of Boulez conducting the Ensemble InterContemporain
won a Grammy in 2000 for best contemporary classical album. http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat/result?COMP_ID=BOUPI&sort=newest_rec&ALBUM_TYPE=&SearchString=Repons&IN_SERIES=&ART_ID=&IN_XXAWARDS=&PRODUCT_NR=4576052&start=0&view_mode=buy_options&IN_XXSERIES=&IN_XXPQ=&MOZART_22=0&GENRE=&per_page=10
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
for a large chamber orchestra with 6 soloists and live electronics. It was premiered on the 18th of October in 1981 at the Donaueschingen Festival
Donaueschingen Festival
The Donaueschingen Festival is a festival for new music that takes place every October in the small town of Donaueschingen...
and subsequently expanded until its completion in 1984.
Répons was the first significant work to come out of Boulez's endeavors at IRCAM
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
, an institute in Paris devoted to making technological advances in electronic music, and it has been celebrated for its integration of the electronic and the acoustic. The piece's title, Répons, is derived from the fact that the composition is built from a number of responses. The contrast between acoustic sounds and electronic responses to them, and also the medieval idea of responsorial mirroring between players and speakers in different parts of the concert hall, both play important roles in Répons.
Structure
Répons is subdivided into an Introduction, Sections 1–8 and a Coda.Boulez said this about the use of metre and harmony in Répons,
Oh yes, there is a metre, slightly irregular on one level but very regular on another. There are so many irregular things in this piece that at one point you need to have a regular metre as you say - a bass and a regular pulse anyway - but also a series of harmonies which are all symmetrical. The harmony always gives this impression of something followed by its inverse; there is always a centre - an axis of symmetry. This symmetry of harmony corresponds in harmonic terms to a regular metre. This is very important. There are three types of time. That which is chaotic and irregular such as you have in the beginning (in the speed I mean). Then you have, in the speed, the very regular rapid repeated notes - always in semiquavers. Finally at the end there is a regularity, a kind of metre - but with much ornamentation. The ornamentation is in fact very irregular, but the metre itself is very regular.
Reception
Répons was generally received well. French Canadian Jean-Jacques NattiezJean-Jacques Nattiez
Jean-Jacques Nattiez, CM, CQ, FRSC is a musical semiologist or semiotician and professor of Musicology at the Université de Montréal...
has suggested that he believes that Répons may become viewed as 'one of the most significant works of the 20th century.' Consistent with Boulez's compositions in general, one of the common praises of Répons is its internally consistent style. The piece is also praised for its use of a wide variety of modern compositional resources, "including electronic manipulation, spatial acoustics, innovative coloring, and even a quasi-minimalist use of repetition."
Recordings
The Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
recording of Boulez conducting the Ensemble InterContemporain
Ensemble InterContemporain
The Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....
won a Grammy in 2000 for best contemporary classical album. http://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat/result?COMP_ID=BOUPI&sort=newest_rec&ALBUM_TYPE=&SearchString=Repons&IN_SERIES=&ART_ID=&IN_XXAWARDS=&PRODUCT_NR=4576052&start=0&view_mode=buy_options&IN_XXSERIES=&IN_XXPQ=&MOZART_22=0&GENRE=&per_page=10
External links
- Review of the New York premiere in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...