Boulez.

Aspects of Pli Selon Pli

"Don" is the first movement of Boulez' monumental work Pli Selon Pli, subtitled Improvisations on
Mallarme. One of the most characteristic and least talked-about aspects of Boulez' post 1950's works is
his take on vertical structure and timbre, parememters which together might be termed 'sonority'. Most of
the first movement of Pli Selon Pli is composed of homophonic, sustained chords enabling a clearer
perception of changes in timbre, density, and interval content. Boulez controls finer aspects of sonority
such as the number of instruments of a given family, the total number of tones, and timbral voicing, and
in so doing defines cohesive units corresponding to the phrase level. Repetitions or clear variations of
these processes and timbral configurations then define the overall structural form. A formal approach
based upon the sequence and repetition of contrasting small units clearly shows the influence of
Messiaen. However, Boulez is also motivated by the notion of total symmetry and the rational
justification of the smaller parts to the whole found in Webern's twelve tone period. Pli Selon Pli stands
as a synthesis of these two primary influences, a byproduct of which is the heightened role and controlled
application of sonority.

Boulez is the quintessential serialist, which generally refers to a mathematically inspired compositional
approach of permutation extended to parameters other than in the pitch domain. He divulges many of his
preferred techniques in On Music Today. With respect to sonority he states:

It is important to choose a certain number of basic concepts having a direct relationship with the
phenomenon of sound, and with that alone, and then to state postulates which must appear as simple
logical relationships between these concepts, independent of the meaning attributed to them.1

In spite of Boulez' renowned verbosity his permutational approach may basically be reduced to two
conditions: Values in a given parameter will either remain static or will undergo change. As for
parameters having a direct relationship with sound, this would include timbre, register and the number of
notes. Boulez separates timbre into two families, Non evolutionary ( or of limited and homogeneous
evolution) and Evolutionary. He further divides the evolutionary group into two sub categories:

a) proceeding by disjunct intervals, where the weight of the new timbres is greater than that of the
timbres common to the two; passing from an instrument to any group, passing from a homogeneous to a
non-homogeneous group, and

b) proceeding by conjunct intervals, where the weight of the new timbre is less than or equal to that of
the timbres common to the two, or in his own words " passing from a timbre to a modification of the
same timbre." 2

In effect Boulez is attempting to clarify the notion of "step" in the domain of timbral change, a concept
first suggested by Schoenberg and which continues to elude composers.3
A discussion of the short phrase at measure E4 serves to clarify some of Boulez' strategies with respect to
sonority and descriptive terminology. The number of sustaining tones remains at four in each of the three
parts of the phrase. It is a non-evolutionary parameter. If one combines attack and sustain timbres one
observes that the number of tones belonging to instruments of the string family moves from three, to
four, and to five. In other words, the parameter of "number of string tones", proceeds by limited and
homogeneous evolution, and would also be termed non-evolutionary.

The number of tones per instrumental family in the phrase ( only one measure in total) are given in figure
2 . There is movement throughout the measure from three strings, three brass, and six woodwinds, to four

strings alone, and finally to three brass and five strings. In each case the number of tones played by new
timbres remains less than the number in common between the two. Changes in timbre by family class
may therefore be said to proceed by conjunct motion. There are also interesting symmetries within the
measure. E4a contains three sustaining pitches on one timbre, in this case belonging to the string family,
which are masked by the entries of brass instruments. In E4c the situation is reversed. Three tones are
sustained by brass instruments, which are masked by attack pitches from the string family.

Boulez tends to employ quasi-symmetrical relationships such as that above to define subphrase
boundaries. Measures E7 and E10, like E4a and E4c, suggest a symmetrical relationship in that both
measures contain a sustained chimes pitch masked by a large mixed ensemble sonority. 4 By their
commonalties, one could characterize the progression from E7 through E10 as having limited and
homogeneous evolution. Through the phrase the number of sustaining tones moves from one to four, to
eight , and back to one. While there is growth and decay in the number of notes timbral changes are not
as obvious. The number of notes per family are summarized in figure 3 below.

Curiously, this phrase also contains a homogeneous string sonority in the center, as was the case with
measure E4. The timbral motion is clearly appears to be disjuct, but may in fact be "displaced" conjunct
motion. If the string sonorities are removed, and measure E8a combined with E7, there is little change.
Boulez has inserted a string "tangent" in what would otherwise be virtually static sonorities.

In any event, the passage demonstrates a consistency in the treatment of timbral resources measured in
concrete quantitative terms. Local processes and later variations are based on counting the number of
things rather than on subjective quality.

In contrast to phrases involving conjunct evolution in timbre, wholly homogeneous phrases focus more
deliberately upon other aspects of sonority such as register and spacing, and the number of tones. In
measure E6 the timbres are taken only from the percussion group.5 In terms of the number of notes the
gesture moves from five to twelve and back to four, or an irregular arch form. The number of active
registers, indicative of the spacing and registral span of the sonorities, moves from three to four to two,
again an irregular arch form. (figure 5 )

The notion of disjunct and conjunct motion is also extended to the intervallic makeup of sonorities. The
characteristic intervals of the sonorities in phrase at E6 are summarized in figure 6 below.

Again, an irregular arch form is apparent. Moreover, there is a kind of inversion between the first and last
sonorities in terms of the placement of the larger interval, not unlike the inversion occurring between the
first and last sonorities of E7 and E10. The movement of intervals to and from the middle sonority is
conjunct. There are two new intervals, the minor third and perfect fifth, but also two intervals in
common, the major and minor second. Boulez' quantitative approach in all parameters of sonority,
including the interval collection, permits complete and rational control of change in sonority for the first
time. From a listener's perspective, however, it is difficult to establish a focal point for one's attention.
Whereas Takemitsu tends to rely on melody, and Ligeti on linear change in register, Boulez does not
appear, initially at least, to employ any longer range or continuous processes to engage the listener.

It is clear that the entire passage from letter E to the end is made up of short sub-phrases of one to three
measures in length, each which display some level of timbral homogeneity. What is unexpected,
however, is the thread of timbral continuity which runs almost throughout the entire section. It is timbre ,
not register or note density, which is intended as the primary focus and which emerges as a long range,
continuous process. With the exception of the percussion figures in measures E6 and E11, figure 7
reveals how sonorities in every measure retain some degree of timbral homogeneity with the previous
measure. The appearances of percussion instruments serve as points of structural division. Measures E6
and E11 clearly serve to divide the section into a three part ABA form. In terms of the family class

distribution within the above dimensions there is a quasi symmetrical relationship between the first and
last phrases. Both are weighted first to the woodwinds and then to the strings.

Boulez' priority with respect to sonority in this last section of Don is to timbre, with register and number
of notes being secondary considerations. The overall movement in registral extremes, figure 8 , is
striking in its lack of variety. The registral spans are consistently between two and three registral regions.
Where there is motion, be it contrary or parallel, the "step" is consistently one or two registral regions
only. There are no abrupt changes in register. Register would then be described as "non-evolutionary",
and imparts an even greater significance to the timbre changes.

( Note, registral region is an approximate partitioning of the 'piano' into units of approximately a tritone.
Middle C is about at the top of registral region 7. Were really just looking at global tendencies here. )

The number of notes per sonority ranges from four to fifteen, and seems to oscillate in a consistent
fashion. ( figure 5 ) It is interesting, however, that with the exception of measures E6b and E11b, each
increase in the number of tones never exceeds twice that of the previous measure.This would be
consistent with Boulez' postulate that for conjunct motion new values in a sonority must be less than or
equal to the number of values in common. For example, movement from six to twelve notes is still
conjunct motion but moving from six to thirteen notes would be disjunct. Disjunct steps in number of
tones at measures E6b and E11 occur, significantly, in the middle of the percussion subphrases, which
are timbrally homogeneous.

Registral density in terms of the spacing or the number of registers articulated by a given sonority also
changes at the chord-to-chord level. ( figure 5) But the pattern that emerges is not some overall
progression from lower to higher, but rather a consistent ( or limited evolutionary) alternation between
sonorities articulating two or four registral regions. The number of registral regions is a parameter of
foreground interest only. By repetition, Boulez establishes this alternation as a consistent "step" in the
domain of registral density. Again, these measures are likely taken to ensure that linked progressions in

the area of timbre, the only long-range continuous process, are more clearly perceived.

In Pli Selon Pli, Boulez succeeds in defining and controlling the properties of sonority for the first time
in a post-tonal language. It is the first serious attempt at a logic of progression in timbre change and other
parameters of sonority. In Harmonielehre Schoenberg speculated on a logic of Klangfarbernmelodie
similar to the logic of pitch melody. The key to unlocking this riddle is to find an appropriate measure of
"step" and "leap" in the timbral domain. Boulez' postulate concerning evolutionary and non-evolutionary
disjunct and conjunct motion is a noble attempt at a solution. The problem, obviously, is that
quantitatively equal measurements in the number of tones by timbre are not necessarily perceptually
equal in the ears of the listener. In spite of linear timbral connections between most sonorities in the
section, one cannot follow the line. Perhaps in time, with ears more attuned to timbrally motivated
composition, the line will emerge with absolute clarity. The piece nonetheless remains of huge
importance in that the parameters of sonority are fully integrated and emancipated as musical subject, not
as an adjective for a rhythmic or melodic gesture.

Footnotes
1. Pierre Boulez, On Music Today, trans. Susan Bradshaw and Richard Rodney Bennet, (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1973) p. 31.
2. Pierre Boulez, On Music Today, p. 62.
3. There is an additional technique prevalent in the movement which involves a division of orchestral
forces for the attack and sustaining portions of the sonority. Specifically, the attack instruments will
"mask" the entrance of the sustaining instruments, resulting in a complex, dynamic timbral shape. In
psychoacoustics, the ability of one sound to mask another is due to the presence of the masking tone in
the same critical band as the original tone. For the middle range the critical band interval is believed to be
in the neighborhood of a minor third.
4. In E7 all attack pitches are situated lower than the chimes, while in E10 they are ordered above,
perhaps suggestive of a reinforced chimes spectrum. It is still the same timbres, however. It is also the
only use of chimes in the last section, perhaps suggestive of a kind of structural midpoint.
5. Arguably, there may be limited timbral motion with the addition of the harp for the middle sonority.