Exploding fixed views of Pierre Boulez with the London Sinfonietta

“Boulez: Sonic Structures” had a partly didactic purpose. The first half of the concert included some guidance on characteristic moments in …explosante-fixe…, the main work in the programme. There were helpful illustrations, serving as a way in to an elusive work. But while structures in sound could be grasped by experiencing a whole piece with helpful commentary at key moments, we could be offered only a few samples in the time available. But those samples, played live by the London Sinfonietta and introduced by conductor Sir George Benjamin, did open the door to understanding for an audience which, if not quite full, held a fair number of young people.

We also heard from Andrew Gerzso, who was the technical collaborator when Pierre Boulez was exploring the best way to use electronics in his music. Gerzso was speaking on stage with Gillian Moore, a previous Artistic Director of the Sinfonietta. He was able to illuminate Boulez’s changing thinking on the use of electronics and the emergence of “score following” in which the electronic component shadows and comments live upon the instrumental music. Again several examples supported these insights.

In the anniversary year of a modernist like Boulez we expect to hear the works essential to understanding him. The BBC’s “Total Immersion Day” in March peaked with the fairly approachable Pli selon Pli, Boulez’s self-proclaimed masterwork. So it was time for something more elusive and less often heard, but still significant. Here we had …explosante-fixe… (exploding-fixed). The six dots are always included, presumably to indicate the title is torn from its context in André Breton’s L'amour fou (1937): “La beauté convulsive sera érotique-voilée, explosante-fixe, magique-circonstancielle, ou ne sera pas” (Convulsive beauty will be erotic-veiled, exploding-fixed, magical-circumstantial, or it will not be at all).

You might feel that quote helps little with understanding the music, that it is better to plunge into the piece. It was a work a long time in the making and, before the talks and illustrations, we heard its forebear. Explosante-fixe began life as a 1971 memorial tribute to Stravinsky, Mémoriale, (or ...explosante-fixe... in its original version for flute and eight instruments), which was played to open the concert. But Boulez was an endlessly curious explorer of musical terra incognita, so the six minutes of Mémoriale were expanded over the next 22 years into the 36 minutes of ...explosante-fixe... for flute with live electronics, two flutes and ensemble.

So the score of …explosante-fixe… features three flutes; the main solo flute was magnificently played by Sinfonietta Principal Flute Michael Cox. The two “co-soloist” flutes, Karen Jones and Sofia Patterson Guttierez, were also excellent. The latter is a member of the Royal Academy of Music Manson ensemble, the Academy’s contemporary music group. Other Manson group members played alongside Sinfonietta players tonight as part of its development programme.

The flute writing is virtuosic, but we have little sense of this being a flute concerto, or a triple flute concerto. There is no concertante manner, little suggesting a dialogue between soloist and accompaniment. The whole piece emanates from the main flute, reflected by the other two flutes that ornament it, the ensemble that supports it and the electronics that extend it – including additional percussion effects unavailable to the live ensemble. The soloist is the puppet-master at the centre of a retinue dancing to his tune. The playing was superb, but the London Sinfonietta was founded to perform such music. While …explosante-fixe… has its challenges, it is rewarding to encounter them through such dedicated musicianship.