Pierre Boulez

Lore & Background

Boulez was also one of the most prominent conductors of his generation. In a career lasting more than sixty years, he was music director of the New York Philharmonic, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made frequent appearances with many other orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He was known for his performances of the music of the first half of the twentieth century—including Debussy and Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartók, and the Second Viennese School—as well as that of his contemporaries, such as Ligeti, Berio and Carter. His work in the opera house included the production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival, and the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's opera Lulu. His recorded legacy is extensive. He also founded several musical institutions. In Paris he set up the Domaine musical in the 1950s to promote new music; in the 1970s he established the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique (IRCAM), to foster research and innovation in music, and the Ensemble intercontemporain, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music. Later he co-founded the Cité de la musique, a concert hall, museum and library dedicated to music in the Parc de la Villette in Paris and, in Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works.

Reader's Guide

Pierre Boulez's significance lies in his dual role as a composer and conductor who shaped the direction of post-war contemporary classical music. As a composer, he pioneered integral serialism in the 1950s, controlled chance music in the 1960s, and real-time electronic transformation of instrumental music from the 1970s onwards, producing works considered landmarks of twentieth-century music such as Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli and Répons. His founding of institutions such as IRCAM and the Ensemble intercontemporain created lasting infrastructure for new music research and performance. As a conductor, he brought modernist and early twentieth-century repertoire to global prominence through his leadership of major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra, and opera productions including Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival and the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's Lulu. His recorded legacy is extensive. His uncompromising commitment to modernism and the trenchant, polemical tone in which he expressed his views on music led some to criticise him as a dogmatist.

Did You Know?

• Boulez was born in Montbrison, in the Loire department of France, the son of an engineer.
• He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, and privately with Andrée Vaurabourg and René Leibowitz.
• He began his professional career in the late 1940s as music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company in Paris.
• He produced Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival.
• He co-founded the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works.