Musical Works of Pierre Boulez (1925- )

• Notations for piano (1945), withdrawn
• Trois psalmodies for piano (1945), withdrawn
• Variations for piano left hand (1945), withdrawn
• Piano Sonata No. 1 (1946)
• Quartet for four ondes martenot (1945-6), withdrawn
  recomposed as Sonata for two pianos (1948), withdrawn
• Sonatine, flute and piano (1946)
• Le visage nuptial (“the wedding face,” Char), soprano, alto, 2 ondes martenot, piano, percussion (1946-7)
  revised for soprano, contralto, women’s chorus, and large orchestra. 1951-2
• Symphonie concertante, piano and orchestra (1947)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1948)
• Le soleil des eaux (“the sun of the waters”), music for a radio play (1948)
  revised for soprano, tenor, bass, STB chorus and orchestra, 1948
  revised for soprano, SATB chorus, and orchestra, 1965
• Livre pour quatour (“book for four”), string quartet (1948-9)
• Polyphonie X, 18 instruments (1951)
• Etude sur un son and Etude sur sept sons (“study on a sound” and “study on seven tones”) for single-track tape (1951-2)
• Oubli signal lapidé (“forgotten lapidary signal”), 12 voices (1952)
• Structures, livre I, 2 pianos (1951-2)
• Le marteau sans maître (“the hammer without master,” Char), alto and 6 instruments (1952-3)
  revised, 1957
• L’Orestie (Aeschylis/Claudel, music for stage play) for voices and instruments (1955)
• Symphonie méchanique (“mechanical symphony”), 1-track tape for film (1955)
• Structures, livre II, 2 pianos (1956-61)
• Don [Pli selon pli I], soprano, piano, later soprano, orchestra (1957), withdrawn
  new work for soprano and orchestra (1962), revised (1989)
• Improvisation sur Mallarmé II: une dentelle s'abolit [=Pli selon pli III], soprano, celeste, harp, piano, tubular bells, vibraphone, 4 percussion (1957)
• Le Crépuscule de Yang Koueï-fei (“twilight of Yang Kouei-fei,” Louise Fauré, music for radio play, 1957)
• Strophes for flute (1957, abandoned)
• Piano Sonata No. 3: Antiphonie, Trope, Constellations (also retrograde version, Constellations-Miroir), Strophe, Séquence (1957), revisions in progress
• Figures-Doubles-Prismes, orchestra (1957-8, 1964, 1968)
• Improvisation sur Mallarmé I: le vierge, le vivace et le bel aujourd'hui [Pli selon pli II], soprano, harp, tubular bells, vibraphone, 4 percussion (1958/62)
• Poésie pour pouvoir (“poetry for power”, Michaux), 5-track tape, orchestra (1958), withdrawn
• Improvisation sur Mallarmé III: à la nue accablante tu [=Pli selon pli IV], ("to the prostrate nude"), soprano, orchestra (1959/1984)
• Tombeau [=Pli selon pli V], soprano, orchestra (1959)
• Pli selon pli (“fold by fold”), portrait of Mallarmé, soprano and orchestra (1957-62, 1984, 1989)
• Eclat (“burst”), 15 instruments (1965), expanded as Eclat/multiples, orchestra (1966)
• Untitled contribution to A Garland for Dr. K, fl, cl., va., vc., pno. (1969)
• Domaines (“domains”), clarinet, 15 instruments (1961-8)
• Livre pour cordes (“book for strings”), string orchestra (1968-, work in progress)
• Pour le Dr. Kalmus ("for Dr. Kalmus"), ensemble (1969)
• Uber das, über ein verschwindelaren (1969)
• Cummings ist der Dichter, chamber chorus, small orchestra (1970, 1986)
• ...explosante-fixe... (“exploding-fixed”), unspecified forces: realization for flute, clarinet, trumpet (1971), flute, clarinet, trumpet, 6 additional instruments (1973), various other versions since 1972
• Ainsi parla Zarathustra (“thus spoke Zarathustra”), incidental music for stage play after Nietzsche (1974)
• Rituel: in memoriam Maderna (“ritual: in memorial Maderna”), orchestra in 8 groups (1974-5)
• Messagesquisse, cello, 6 cellos (1975)
• Notations (after piano pieces of 1945), orchestra (1977-, work in progress)
• Répons (“response”), 6 tuned percussion soloists, small orchestra, electronics (1980-, work in progress)
• Dérive (“drift”), flute, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, violin, cello (1984)
• Initiale ("initials"), for brass septet (1987)
• Dérive 2, 2nd version for 12 instruments (1990)
• Anthèmes (“anthems”), violin (1992)
• ...explosante-fixe..., version 1993, MIDI-flute, two solo flutes, ensemble, electronics (1993)
• Incises (“incisions”), piano (1994)
• Sur incises (“about incisions”) for ensemble (1996)
• Anthèmes 2 (“anthems 2”), violin and electronics (1997)

Writings by Boulez

• Penser la musique aujourd’hui (1963), English translation as Boulez on Music Today (1971)
• Relevés d’apprenti (1966), English translation as Notes of an Apprenticeship (1968)
• Werkstatt-Texte (1972)
• Anhaltspunkte (1975)
• Par Volunté et par hasard: entretiens avec Célestin Deliège (1975), English translation as Conversations with Célestin Deliège (1977)

  Articles that have appeared in English:

  • “At the ends of fruitful land...”, Die Reihe No. 1 (1958), pp. 19-29
  • “Sonate, que me veux tu?”, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1963), pp. 32-44.
  • “Aléa”, Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1964), pp. 42-53.
  • “Technology and the Composer”, Times Literary Supplement (6 May 1977), pp. 570-1.