Pierre Boulez @ 100: Discography

Over the course of two decades, Pierre Boulez made a number of landmark recordings — including several Grammy Award winners — with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. (All works below were conducted by Boulez unless otherwise indicated.)

BARTÓK Bluebeard’s Castle
Jessye Norman, soprano
László Polgár, bass
Nicholas Simon, narrator
Recorded December 1993, Orchestra Hall
1998 Grammy Award for Best Opera
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Cantata profana
John Aler, tenor
John Tomlinson, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Recorded December 1991, Orchestra Hall
1993 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album, Best Engineered Recording–Classical, Best Performance of a Choral Work
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
Recorded November 1992, Orchestra Hall
1994 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Concerto for Piano No. 1
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Recorded November 2001, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Concerto for Violin No. 2
Gil Shaham, violin
Recorded December 1998, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Dance Suite
Recorded December 1992, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Deux Images (Two Pictures) for Orchestra, Op. 10
Recorded December 1992, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Divertimento for String Orchestra
Recorded December 1993, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Four Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 12
Recorded December 1992, Orchestra Hall
1994 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album, Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Hungarian Sketches
Recorded December 1993, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Recorded December 1994, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Recorded December 1994, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra No. 1
Gil Shaham, violin
Recorded December 1998, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra No. 2
Gil Shaham, violin
Recorded December 1998, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

BARTÓK The Wooden Prince
Recorded December 1991, Orchestra Hall
1993 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album, Best Engineered Recording–Classical, Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

BERG Lulu Suite
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Recorded April 2000, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
EuroArts (video)

BOULEZ Notations for Orchestra I-IV
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded April 2001, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
EuroArts (video)

BOULEZ Notations for Orchestra VII
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded December 2000, Orchestra Hall
Teldec

DEBUSSY Le jet d’eau
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Recorded April 2000, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
EuroArts (video)

DEBUSSY Three Ballads by François Villon
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Recorded April 2000, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
EuroArts (video)

MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Recorded May 1998, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

MAHLER Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Recorded December 1995, Medinah Temple
1998 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

MAHLER Totenfeier
Recorded December 1996, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

SCHOENBERG Pelleas and Melisande, Op. 5
Recorded December 1991, Orchestra Hall
Erato

SCHOENBERG Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31
Recorded December 1991, Orchestra Hall
Erato

SCRIABIN Piano Concerto in F-sharp Minor, Op. 20
Anatol Ugorski, piano
Recorded Decmeber 1996, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

SCRIABIN Prometheus, Op. 60
Anatol Ugorski, piano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, chorus director
Recorded Decmeber 1996, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

SCRIABIN Symphony No. 4, Op. 54 (The Poem of Ecstasy)
Recorded November 1995, Medinah Temple
Deutsche Grammophon

STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
Recorded December 1996, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

STRAVINSKY Fireworks, Op. 4
Recorded November 1992, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

STRAVINSKY Four Studies
Recorded November 1992, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

STRAVINSKY Four Studies
Recorded March 2009, Orchestra Hall
CSO Resound

STRAVINSKY The Firebird
Recorded December 1992, Orchestra Hall
Deutsche Grammophon

STRAVINSKY The Firebird
Recorded April 2000, Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
EuroArts (video)

STRAVINSKY Pulcinella
Roxana Constantinescu, mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Kyle Ketelsen, bass-baritone
Recorded March 2009, Orchestra Hall
CSO Resound

STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
Recorded March 2009, Orchestra Hall
CSO Resound

THOMAS . . . words of the sea . . .
Recorded December 1996, Orchestra Hall
ARTCD

VARÈSE Amériques
Recorded December 1995, Orchestra Hall
2001 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

VARÈSE Arcana
Recorded December 1996, Orchestra Hall
2001 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

VARÈSE Déserts
Recorded December 1996, Orchestra Hall
2001 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

VARÈSE Ionisation
Recorded December 1995, Orchestra Hall
2001 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance
Deutsche Grammophon

In conjunction with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s annual Symphonython (previously Marathon and Radiothon) fundraiser, a themed collection of radio broadcasts was offered as a donation premium. Several works led by Boulez were included on various sets, and one collection was dedicated solely to him.

Soloists of the Orchestra II
From the Archives, vol. 15 (2001)

DEBUSSY First Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra
Larry Combs, clarinet
Recorded November 1994, Orchestra Hall


A Tribute to Pierre Boulez
From the Archives, vol. 19 (2005)

BACH/Schoenberg Prelude and Fugue in E flat Major, BWV 552 (Saint Anne)
Recorded December 1991, Orchestra Hall

BOULEZ Fanfare for the 80th Birthday of Sir Georg Solti
Recorded November 1992, Orchestra Hall

BOULEZ Livre pour cordes
Recorded December 1999, Orchestra Hall

DEBUSSY Symphonic Fragments from Le martyre de Saint Sébastien
Recorded December 1995, Orchestra Hall

JANÁČEK Glagolitic Mass
Elzbieta Szmytka, soprano
Nancy Maultsby, mezzo-soprano
Stuart Neill, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
David Schrader, organ
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Recorded November 2000, Orchestra Hall

MAHLER Three Rückert Lieder (Liebst du um Schönheit, Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen)
José van Dam, bass-baritone
Recorded November 1996, Orchestra Hall

MESSIAEN L’ascension
Recorded November 1996, Orchestra Hall

STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Recorded November 1995, Orchestra Hall


Soloists of the Orchestra III
From the Archives, vol. 21 (2007)

BOULEZ Messagesquisse for Seven Cellos
John Sharp, solo cello
Stephen Balderston, Phillip Blum, Loren Brown, Richard Hirschl, Jonathan Pegis and Gary Stucka, cellos
Recorded September 1994, Orchestra Hall


Chicago Symphony Chorus: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration
From the Archives, vol. 22 (2008)

STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Recorded November 2000