 A partial premiere of book2 was performed by the composer and Yvonne Loriod at the Wigmore Hall, London, in March 1957.This was Boulez's first appearance in the UK as a performer .The same performers gave the premiere of the complete second book, with two different versions of chapter2, in a chamber-music concert of the Donaueschinger Musiktage on Saturday, 21 October 1961 .