The composer conducted soloists Ursula Zollenkopf, Jeanne Deroubaix, Hugues Cu*nod, Richard Robinson, Charles Scharbach and Robert Oliver, the NDR Chor and the NDR Sinfonieorchester. Stravinsky dedicated the performance to Alessandro Piovesan, director of the Venice Biennale, who had recently died. The first Paris performance, on 14 November 1958, was disastrous. According to Stephen Walsh, Pierre Boulez failed to fulfil his undertaking to obtain adequate performers, and those that he could obtain broke down several times.
Stephen Walsh
Pierre Boulez