Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
Livre pour Quatuor (1948-9, rev. 1956, 1960, 1985; movement IV completed by Philippe Manoury and Jean-Louis Leleu, 2017)
Quatuor Diotima
rec. 2023, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
Pentatone PTC5187360 [56]

Boulez does not greatly resemble Bruckner as a composer, but they had in common a mania for revision. Boulez frequently revised, sometimes withdrew and then reinstated his works, or suppressed parts or all of them. Furthermore, he recorded his works, sometimes several times, and you need to know which version he has recorded as most of them remain in circulation. The latest version of one of works is usually the best, but his latest recording is not necessarily so.

His Livre pour Quatuor, his only string quartet, has a particularly complicated history. In origin it was one of his earliest works. He started drafting it in 1948, during his high modernistic post-Webernian phase. He was inspired by – or, more precisely, reacted against – the late quartets of Beethoven and the quartets of Bartók. He also greatly admired Berg’s Lyric Suite, with its six alternating fast and slow movements. He originally envisaged the Livre as three pairs of movements, I-II, III-IV, V-VI. He also thought that players could select from the work the movements they wished to play, seeing it more as an anthology than as a single work. In the course of composition he split movement I into two, now Ia and Ib and movement III into three, IIIa, IIIb and IIIc. The earlier movements were premiered in instalments during the 1950s, and in 1959 the Parrenin Quartet recorded movements I, III and V.

By the early 1960s, movement VI had also been performed. However, in 1968 Boulez decided to stop work on the quartet and to recast some of it as a work for string orchestra, as he thought what he had written needed a conductor, and it was absurd to have a conductor for a quartet. He recorded this version, now titled Livre pour cordes, which is a revision and expansion of movements I and II of the quartet version.

In 1985, in honour of the composer’s sixtieth birthday, the Arditti Quartet played the work complete apart from movement IV, which was not available. This version was later recorded by the Parisii Quartet.

Meanwhile, Boulez had drafted movement IV but had not released it as he considered it unplayable. Eventually, in 2017 Philippe Manoury and Jean-Louis Leleu edited or perhaps reconstructed the score – I am not clear how much they needed to do – and we finally had a complete version, and this is what the Quatuor Diotima play here in this first complete recording. They seem to have no problem with movement IV, by the way.

I should add that in Boulez’ last years, they worked with him on the quartet, so their performance can be regarded as authoritative.

The work itself is written mainly in that splintered and fragmented idiom which was very much in vogue among composers when it was first drafted. There are snatches of themes and good deal of variety in tone and attack, including a plentiful use of pizzicato. In this complete form it is a long work, lasting nearly an hour. I think, particularly for newcomers, it is worth bearing in mind Boulez’ original idea that you could listen just to sections of it at any one time. As it requires a good deal of concentration, that makes for less tiring listening. However, you are always aware of a controlling mind, even though it may be difficult or impossible to follow the detailed processes.

The Quatuor Diotima has built a substantial reputation for its performances and recordings of twentieth century quartets, including all the Second Viennese School works for the medium and the Bartók quartets (review), as well as many more recent works. I mentioned that they had worked with the composer, and I should add they seem completely at home in the idiom and deliver an assured performance. The recording is good and the sleevenote helpful. This remains one of Boulez’ more challenging works, but enthusiasts need not hesitate.

Stephen Barber

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