Editing Pierre Boulez (section)

===Controlled chance===
From the 1950s Boulez experimented with what he called "controlled chance". In his article "Sonate, que me veux-tu?"{{refn|What do you want from me, sonata?|group=n}}, he wrote of "the investigation of a relative world, a permanent 'discovering' rather like the state of 'permanent revolution{{'"}}.<ref>Boulez (1986), 143.</ref>

Peyser observes that Boulez's use of chance is different from [[John Cage]]'s. In Cage's music the performers are often free to create unforeseen sounds, with the aim of removing the composer's intention from the music; in Boulez's music they choose between possibilities that have been written out by the composer.<ref>Peyser (1976), 126–129</ref> When applied to the order of sections, this is sometimes described as "mobile form", a technique devised by [[Earle Brown]], who was inspired by the mobile sculptures of [[Alexander Calder]], whom Boulez met when he was visiting New York in 1952.<ref>Barbedette, 143; Borchardt-Hume, 70–71.</ref>

Boulez employed variants of the technique in several works over the next two decades: in the [[Piano sonatas (Boulez)#Third Piano Sonata|Third Piano Sonata]] (1955–1957, revised 1963) the pianist chooses different routes through the score and in one movement (''Trope'') has the option of omitting certain passages altogether;<ref>Gardner and O'Hagan, 179.</ref> in ''Éclat''{{refn|group=n|name=eclat}} (1965), the conductor triggers the order in which each player joins the ensemble; in ''[[Domaines (Boulez)|Domaines]]'' (1961–1968) it is the soloist who dictates the order in which the sections are played by his movement around the stage. In later works, such as ''[[Cummings ist der Dichter]]''{{refn|Cummings is the Poet.|group=n}} (1970, revised 1986)—a chamber cantata for 16 solo voices and small orchestra using a poem by [[E. E. Cummings]]—the conductor chooses the order of certain events but there is no freedom for the individual player. In its original version ''Pli selon pli'' also contained elements of choice for the instrumentalists, but much of this was eliminated in later revisions.

By contrast ''[[Figures—Doubles—Prismes]]'' (1957–1968) is a fixed work with no chance element. Piencikowski describes it as "a great cycle of variations whose components interpenetrate each other instead of remaining isolated in the traditional manner".<ref>Piencikowski.</ref> It is notable for the unusual layout of the orchestra, in which the various families of instruments (woodwind, brass etc.) are scattered across the stage rather than being grouped together.<ref>Boulez (2003), 101.</ref>