Pierre Boulez

Born: March 26, 1925, Montbrison, France Died: - Biography - Musical Examples - Works - Links - Twentieth Century Composer Index

French composer and conductor. Along with the German Karlheinz Stockhausen, he was one of the leaders of the European avant-garde at midcentury.

A curious thing happens when a composer uses abstract, rational methods to control every aspect of a musical composition. The result is a piece that does not sound rational and totally controlled. Instead, it begins to sound random or improvised. This was a dilemma faced by composers in the middle of the twentieth century, and the music of Pierre Boulez represents one reaction to this problem.

Boulez, like his teacher at the Paris Conservatory, Olivier Messiaen, had a strong interest in mathematics. He was greatly influenced by his teacher's careful structuring of his works, but unlike Messiaen, Boulez fully embraced the techniques of the Second Viennese school and its use of twelve-tone and serial techniques. He took these principles a step further by eliminating (in his words, destroying) the formal ideas that still formed the basis of their works (sonata, fugue, etc.). The result was a purely abstract style of music, with seemingly no tie to the past. In his Structures I for two pianos, for example, nearly every element of pitch, timbre, and duration are controlled by abstract relationships calculated before the piece was actually written.

As the difficulty of such an approach became apparent, Boulez and others began to take a freer approach to writing, and to make use of indeterminate or aleatoric techniques in their music. This mostly revolved around allowing the performer to choose the order and repetition of various sections in the performance of a piece. This differs greatly from the approach of Americans such as John Cage, who used elements of chance in the composition as well as the performance of a piece.

In the 1950s, Boulez focused more of his energies on conducting, and built an impressive international career, conducting orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic (1971–78). On the podium he was a tireless champion of contemporary and French music. Since the mid 1970s, most of his energies have been centered on his work at the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris. IRCAM is a center for the scientific investigation of acoustics, and computer and electronic music. In part because of these activities, Boulez's compositional output has been markedly reduced. Many of his pieces remain in incomplete form or, in the case of his Pli selon pli, have undergone numerous revisions.

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Musical Examples:

• Improvisation sur Mallarme I from Pli selon pli

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Works:

• Orchestral works, including Rituel (1975) and Répons (orchestra and digital equipment, 1981– )
• Chamber music, including Le marteau sans mâitre (The Hammer without a Master, 1954), Pli selon pli (Fold upon fold, 1962, which includes 3 Improvisations on Mallarmé), Eclat/Multiples (1965–70), Rituel in memoriam Maderna (1974–75)
• Piano music, including 3 piano sonatas (1946, 1948, 1957) and Structures I and II for two pianos (1952, 1961)

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Links:

• A Basic Biography
  This site, from the Classical Music Pages, provides a biographical essay taken from The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music.
• Boulez the Conductor
  Boulez's role as a conductor and as a champion of contemporary music is a central one in the twentieth century. This biography, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic site, discusses his compositional career.
• Boulez and IRCAM
  The Institute of Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (founded by Boulez) is an important center for the scientific study of music and acoustics. The Institute's site is a rich collection of resources. The navigation is difficult, and many portions are only available in French, but if technology interests you, you will find a lot to like in this site.

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