<<  -- 11 --  Bill Newman    BERLIN FESTIVAL DIARY

Another American soprano, Laura Aikin, was soloist in Pierre Boulez' Pli selon pli -- Portrait de Mallarmé. The title 'Fold by fold' is from a Mallarmé poem about the town of Bruges emerging from surrounding mists. The composer doesn't set the text, but the music unfolds over five movements to form a portrait of the poet. Don registers the start: 'I bring you the child of an Idumaean night!', while at the close Tombeau marks its end: 'A so shallow rivulet, much maligned death'. In between come the three Improvisations: 'The virginal, lively and beautiful day will it tear for us with a stroke of its drunken wing', 'A piece of lace disappears in doubt of the supreme game', 'To the overwhelming cloud hushed a reef of volcanic rock and lava'.

Although I attended the recording première at London's Abbey Road Studios under Boulez' direction, I still find the 45-minute work difficult to grasp. Intensity of concentration is made harder by the lack of live performances. This one, however, under Michael Gielen's direction, clearly focussed on the changing shapes and motives, taking us down into the world of Mallarmé's subterranean visions and rarified atmosphere. I asked Gielen about those early Boulez performances and the technical problems involved during preparation. 'Oh, all those harps!' he said knowingly.

So much for the festival, but on my final day I was delighted to receive a call from my old friend, the pianist Sam Haywood, busy rehearsing Shostakovich with cellist and Kodály specialist Claudio Bohorquez. This was at the Deutsche Bank premises in Charlottestrasse, off Unter den Linden -- typical of the generosity of professional firms in making sites available.

My grateful thanks and loving regards to Joav and Allina at the Amaryl Hotel and to Jagoda Engelbrecht of the Berlin Festival Offices for making it all come possible.