When the young Pierre Boulez burst on to the Paris scene towards the end of the second world war, it was clear that he would lead a generation which was going to blow away pre-war European traditions and build a new musical world. Boulez absorbed every musical influence he could and, almost as quickly, began to smash those icons which symbolized the old order. Schoenberg was dead, Stravinsky's neo-classicism was beyond the pale, and even his teacher, Oliver Messiaen, came in for his youthful polemic.

But in those early years, Boulez experimented seriously with most of the key ideas current in musical thinking: serialism, chance in music, electronics, and influences from Eastern art, always applying his characteristic clarity of thought and intellectual rigour. During the course of the 1950s he matured into a major composer, with landmark pieces such as Le Marteau sans maître and Pli selon pli. It was also during the 1950s that he founded the concert series Domaine Musicale, which enabled two further sides of his musical personality to emerge: a talent for administration - for making things happen - and an extraordinary gift for conducting.

 

Today, Boulez is a towering figure in contemporary musical life. He is one of the world's most sought-after conductors, with a repertoire spanning Wagner, Stravinsky and new music. As well as using his influence to get buildings built, music written and ensembles formed in France, Boulez's thinking has affected the way music is created and presented the world over.   To find out more about the work of Pierre Boulez use the links below.

 

boulez : composing : workshops : support : contact