The small output of Messiaen’s pupil Jean Barraqué has been expanded by the rediscovery of several works. From his unpublished compositions which have only recently become available, a number of early works are now being performed for the first time.

Jean Barraqué (1928–1973) is one of those composers, like Alban Berg and Edgard Varèse, who published a remarkably small number of works. But the brevity of their lists of publications is more than compensated for by the content and significance of their compositions. When Barraqué met the Italian patron Aldo Bruzzichelli in 1960, he found in him a publisher with whom he published six works. These included the Sonate pour piano (1950–1952), four works for voice and ensemble for various scorings, and finally his Concerto for vibraphone, clarinet and six instrumental groups, composed in 1962–68. In the 1990s the Association Jean Barraqué assigned the publication rights for these works to Bärenreiter-Verlag.

It had been known for some time that Barraqué had written a number of other compositions before his powerful Sonate, but no further details were known. Barraqué is still regarded as a largely unknown ‘great’, not only in his early works, but in regard to his whole output, which includes an essayistic oeuvre of high quality. In contrast to the extrovert Pierre Boulez, Barraqué was the quiet, introverted student, different from other composers emerging from Messiaen’s class.

It is a stroke of luck that Barraqué preserved his early works. The unspectacular piece of luggage containing his unpublished musical works, stored for a long time in a loft in Paris and only unearthed recently, has turned out to be a true treasure trove. The suitcase contains a wealth of autograph manuscripts, including many from the 1940s. These fill the gaps in our knowledge about Barraqué’s early works and document his multifaceted compositional work dating from before the Sonate.

The Quatuor à cordes, Barraqué’s only string quartet, is of particular interest as an important chamber music composition dating from his early period. For this work, written in the second half of 1949, fair copies of the four movements survive as well as a large number of sketches, early studies and various tone-row tables – this is an extremely subtly formulated music in dodecaphonic style. Because of the extensive and complex manuscript sources, it is possible to gain a fascinating insight into the genesis of the work. Barraqué occasionally marked the tone-row structure in the manuscripts, emphasized formal turning points (reprises, etc.) verbally, and in the secondary sources sometimes notated more dynamic and tempo indications than in the fair copy. Even if we take these details into consideration in the edition, the dynamics and phrasing of the filigree texture remain incomplete, and tempo indications are missing for the outer movements. Their interpretation therefore requires particular feeling and sensitivity. From time to time the thread of sound turns out to be extremely delicately and fragilely spun; the third movement, “Thème et variations”, contains extended unison passages of enchanting poetic tenderness. In the sketches for the virtuoso “Final” Barraqué uses concepts derived from the traditional rondo form, namely “Refrain” for the imitatively strongly conceived sections and “Couplet” for the freely-composed sections. In this lively “Rondo finale”, and elsewhere, there are many indications which anticipate the Sonate pour piano (1950–1952). The Quatuor received its premiere on 5 October 2011 at the Festival “Musica Strasbourg”, performed by the Quatuor Diotima.

Nicolas Hodges also premiered a number of early piano works by Barraqué. Apart from Retour, which was published in 2009 in an anthology by Bärenreiter (BA 8762), none of the works has previously been published or performed.
In the piano work Retour, written between September 1947 and March 1948 according to the manuscript, the music is still tonal in character. Intermezzo, which can be dated on stylistic grounds to 1949, is, however, no longer tonal, but not yet resolutely twelve-tonal. The chords with their structures stated at the beginning form a basis for the thematic and harmonic character of this impressive piece. The other works, Deux morceaux pour piano, Pièce pour piano and Thème et variations are structured twelve-tonally and, with the exception of one piece, they have a particular affinity with the Quatuor à cordes, as piano transcriptions of three movements of the quartet. In contrast with the quartet, in the piano pieces Barraqué uses considerably longer bar lengths. The shorter bar lengths in the quartet are clearly for reasons of performance practice. In the considerably longer bars of the piano versions, Barraqué clarifies at the same time the musical “punctuation” he intended. The piano versions of three quartet movements are characterized by a “crystalline” texture, which can be convincingly portrayed on the keyboard instrument, though the percussive piano sound is radically different and independent. Fascinatingly, in Strasbourg audiences were able to compare the two versions of the work in two consecutive concerts!

It is impressive in what a short period of time Barraqué largely frees his music from stylistic adaptations, in order to push forward to an advanced personal style, as in the Sonate pour violon seul (1949), premiered two years ago in Paris by Carolin Widmann. This receives its German premiere, together with the previously mentioned works, as part of the “Ultraschall Berlin” festival on 20 January 2012. As part of this Nicolas Hodges played the Sonate pour piano using the new critical-practical edition.

The programme also included premieres of selected early vocal works. Of particular importance are the songs with piano accompaniment Trois mélodies (1950), which formed the “nucleus” for the work Séquence later published by the composer. The works receiving first performances and premieres in Strasbourg and Berlin will be published over the coming year by Bärenreiter. A CD recording of this group of works is planned by “Ultraschall”.    

Michael Töpel
(from [t]akte 2/2011)