Pierre Boulez
*1925 Montbrison (France), †2016, Baden-Baden (Germany)
Works
Sonatine for Flute and Piano (1946)
Messagesquisse for Solo Cello and Six Cellos (1976–77)
Arrangement for Solo Viola and six Violas by Christophe Desjardins
Dérive 1 for Six Instruments (1984)
Mémoriale (...explosante-fixe... Originel)
for Flute and Ensemble (1985/93)
Sonatine
for Flute and Piano (1946)
Dérive 1
for Six Instruments (1984)
Messagesquisse
for Solo Cello and Six Cellos (1976–77)
Arrangement for Violas by Christophe Desjardins
Mémoriale (...explosante-fixe... Originel)
for Flute and Ensemble (1985/93)
Born in France in 1925, Pierre Boulez was one of the defining musical figures of the 20th and 21st centuries, who, as a composer, conductor, theorist, and cultural emissary, has profoundly changed the way we think about music today.
After studies with Olivier Messiaen and René Leibowitz in Paris, Boulez quickly established himself as one of the leading and most controversial protagonists of the post-war avant-garde with compositions such as the Sonatine for Flute and Piano (1946), Polyphonie X (1951), and Le Marteau sans maître, which became one of the most performed contemporary works of the 1950s and 60s.
This reputation was consolidated by his substantial output as a writer and public intellectual, commenting on works by other composers, questions of compositional technique, and general aesthetic and cultural issues with legendary, at times polemic poignancy. The unity of compositional practice and theoretical thought as well as his awareness of music’s essential and universal role as a means of communication make Pierre Boulez a singular figure of his time.
Early on Boulez also made his mark as an innovator of musical institutions: The concert series “Domaine musical,” initiated in 1953, presented early music by Bach or Gesualdo together with works from the Second Viennese School and new compositions by his contemporaries—an idea that continues to inspire the artistic profile of the Pierre Boulez Saal today.
The beginnings of Boulez’s career as one of the leading conductors of his generation date back to the 1960s: he conducted the first production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in Paris in 1963 and Parsifal at the 1966 Bayreuth Festival, where he returned in 1976 for Patrice Chéreau’s legendary production of the Ring cycle. He was made principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in 1971 and subsequently received invitations from the world’s most prestigious orchestras until late in his life, often conducting works by younger composers.
In 1976, Pierre Boulez founded the Ensemble intercontemporain and the Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (IRCAM) in Paris, which to this day play a vital role in the creation, performance, and research of contemporary music. He incorporated the tools for electronic creation and manipulation of sounds in real time, which were developed at IRCAM, into his compositions beginning in the 1980s, most prominently in works such as Répons (1981), …explosante-fixe… (1971–93), Dialogue de l’ombre double (1982–85), and Anthèmes II (1997), resulting in fascinating spatial, electro-acoustical musical experiences.
The Pierre Boulez Saal, just one of the many fruits of a lifelong professional friendship with Daniel Barenboim, is a tribute to the composer’s relentless dedication to learning and his insatiable curiosity. It is no coincidence that a “salle modulable” offering countless combinations for making music, has been named after him. An artist who meticulously planned music within spatial structures and contributed to redefining the concert hall experience, Pierre Boulez without a doubt would have found great joy in working here.