Pierre Boulez: Domaines

With Mark van de Wiel (clarinet) and the London Sinfonietta conducted by Thierry Fischer. ‘Domaines’ is scored for solo clarinet and six instrumental groupings; there is a spatial element to the work, which consists of two parts, ‘Original’ and ‘Miroir’ (Mirror), as the groupings are laid out on stage at the six points of a hexagon: in the first part, the solo clarinet determines the order of the material and moves between the individual instrumental groups, which perform the music introduced by the soloist. The ‘Miroir’ section reverses the process, with the groups playing their material before the soloist, in ‘mirror’ order, so the completed work is a perfect musical palindrome.