Le Domaine Musical 1956 - 1967, Vol 1

This, together with the accompanying second volume devoted to Stravinsky and the second Viennese school, is unquestionably a piece of musical history. If you're seriously interested in this field you will surely be sorely tempted, for the two volumes assemble the pick of recordings from the 1956-1967 era when Stockhausen and Boulez were leading much of new music's thinking. Performing skills and attitudes have moved on since then of course, but it's intriguing to hear how seminal masterpieces such as Le Marteau Sans Maitre were heard in those early days. Other key compositional contributors include Varese and Messiaen, with a youthful Yvonne Loriod playing both her husband's music and the Boulez Second Sonata. There's even an unexpected contribution from Hans Werner Henze, who was so publicly snubbed by this group very shortly afterwards.Inevitably the quality of the sound is a drawback - it is so much less good than that of modern standards that I haven't found myself wanting to listen to many of these discs too often - if you want to settle down to the Kontarsky brothers playing Livre 1 of Boulez' Structures, you will surely prefer the crisp sound of the later DG recording to the one here. But it's undeniably fascinating to hear how that and so many other key works were done at that time.As for the title above, who is to say where music might have gone but for the huge influence of Pierre Boulez and the Domaine Musical ? I remain a long-committed fan of the Boulez strain of thinking here, but I have always suspected the Stockhausen lineage to be arid. Try these discs and see for yourself how the two lines got entangled in those heady experimental days.