Pierre Boulez, RIP

[BBMmk2]

RIP PIERRE BOULEZ. An absolute icon, if there ever was one, in classical music.

[Pulcinella]

I think I only saw him conduct live once, the First Night of the Proms 1973:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/em3d4f

No baton, as usual.
That wonderful opening chord of the Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms worked even in the RAH.
What a way to start the season!
Second half a Brahms Requiem with Heather Harper and Hermann Prey.

RIP Pierre Boulez, and thanks for being such an influence on my musical experiences.
I'm glad I have the big Sony box to dip into.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Met him afterwards and have his autograph, tiny and precise with three lines boxing it in on three sides...

Yes - my ERATO LP of Pli Selon Pli is autographed by him: it looks as though he's written the word "Thanks" on the cover!

I'm remembering so many of his concerts that I attended between 1982 - '95: some of the very greatest Music of the 20th Century (his own, included) given astonishing, energising performances. I sat on the row in front of him at a concert in the RFH (featuring a piece by York Holler that had been partly realized at IRCAM) - to this day I regret not thanking him for ... well, everything!

[DracoM]

Saw / heard him conduct at Proms way back. Exciting.

[Serial_Apologist]

My first direct experience of Boulez's conducting happened to be my first-ever live experience of "The Rite" - at the Festival Hall in 1966. Unforgettable - as were subsequent appearances at the Proms, where first-time introductions to the early Modernist classics were invaluable in easing me into what had previously seemed impenetrable music. Then in 1968 I saw him conducting what might have been the Suisse Romande at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, in a concert which included Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, Bartok's Music for Strings, Harp, Celesta and Percussion, and his own Eclat. The place was full of super-animated French students who might otherwise have been more into Soft Machine - this was during the height of the events that had brought France to a standstill. I just happened to be working in Switzerland, but many of them had hitched their way down from the Sorbonne, ideologically charged up with spreading their revolutionary messages. Now, I have read that Boulez was not in sympathy with the May '68 Movement; but I can vouch for the brief speech he made before embarking on Eclat, along the lines of dedicating this performance to the students and workers occupying the campuses and factories of France, precipitating the loudest, most spectacular outburst of standing applause I have ever witnessed at any concert. Subsequently I found myself being carried along on a wave of movement which ended up at one of Geneva's Parisian-styled corner bars, where, on time being called, the youngsters, who had been singing revolutionary songs, piled up the tables inside the premises as symbolic barricades, before dismantling them and parting with hugs all around to go their own ways, and me to my hotel, which, with a lot of beer inside me, took some finding at two in the morning!

[Beef Oven!]

Quite so - a living legend from the earliest days of my being interested in music, somehow embodying all the virtues, from notoriety and iconoclasm to the unquestionably sublime. Personally I suppose I am most grateful for (and intrigued by) his devotion latterly to Mahler performance. I only heard him conduct once live: Sacre du Printemps. Those I was with found it bloodless; I found it cumulatively completely convincing and overwhelming. Met him afterwards and have his autograph, tiny and precise with three lines boxing it in on three sides...

[Beef Oven!]

My first direct experience of Boulez's conducting happened to be my first-ever live experience of "The Rite" - at the Festival Hall in 1966. Unforgettable - as were subsequent appearances at the Proms, where first-time introductions to the early Modernist classics were invaluable in easing me into what had previously seemed impenetrable music. Then in 1968 I saw him conducting what might have been the Suisse Romande at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, in a concert which included Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, Bartok's Music for Strings, Harp, Celesta and Percussion, and his own Eclat. The place was full of super-animated French students who might otherwise have been more into Soft Machine - this was during the height of the events that had brought France to a standstill. I just happened to be working in Switzerland, but many of them had hitched their way down from the Sorbonne, ideologically charged up with spreading their revolutionary messages. Now, I have read that Boulez was not in sympathy with the May '68 Movement; but I can vouch for the brief speech he made before embarking on Eclat, along the lines of dedicating this performance to the students and workers occupying the campuses and factories of France, precipitating the loudest, most spectacular outburst of standing applause I have ever witnessed at any concert. Subsequently I found myself being carried along on a wave of movement which ended up at one of Geneva's Parisian-styled corner bars, where, on time being called, the youngsters, who had been singing revolutionary songs, piled up the tables inside the premises as symbolic barricades, before dismantling them and parting with hugs all around to go their own ways, and me to my hotel, which, with a lot of beer inside me, took some finding at two in the morning!

[Black Swan]

Such sad news to hear of the passing of a true legend. A man who not only excelled in modern music but was a conductor of great skill and taste in Classical Music. He truly had not boundaries. We are not likely to see a composer, conductor and theorist of his kind soon. A true loss to the musical world. I ma listening to Memoriale for solo lute and 8 instruments one of my favourite of his later works in his honour.

[ardcarp]

Sarah Walker is talking to some interesting folk (Rattle, Benjamin, and others) right now on In Tune. She seems very knowledgeable herself and is handling things well.

[Nick Armstrong]

A pity that a 'classical' giant has to die to "trend" on Twitter...



Better, perhaps, than no-one 'twittering' about him...

[Bryn]

Sarah Walker is talking to some interesting folk (Rattle, Benjamin, and others) right now on In Tune. She seems very knowledgeable herself and is handling things well.

Well of course.

[Serial_Apologist]

Well of course.

That looks interesting!

Thanks, Bryn. I'll have a read of that later.

[french frank]

Time for an update?

[ARBurton]

Sad news indeed. I wonder how many other members of this forum had their first experience of the Ring with the BBC`s showing of his Bayreuth recording from 1979/80? Certainly highly instrumental in introducing me to my lifelong love of Wagner, and although I moved on to other conductors (tons of them) I still love that cycle. And his Parsifal too. The only time I saw him live was in Debussy`s Pelleas in Birmingham , early 1990s?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sad news indeed. I wonder how many other members of this forum had their first experience of the Ring with the BBC`s showing of his Bayreuth recording from 1979/80? Certainly highly instrumental in introducing me to my lifelong love of Wagner, and although I moved on to other conductors (tons of them) I still love that cycle. And his Parsifal too.

- Boulez' wasn't the first Wagner I ever heard, but it was the one that made the composer "click" for me - and, yes; for all my adoration of other conductors' readings of this repertoire, Boulez remains very high in my affections and admiration.

I've received an e-Mail from an ex-student of mine (now in his mid-20s) which I think sums up so many essential points succinctly:

Very sad to hear of Boulez's passing today. Truly one of the greats. I was very lucky to hear Peter Eötvös conduct Livre pour cordes and Rituel with the LSO in April, and Pli selon pli with the BBCSO in March. Illuminating sonorities, meticulous structures and a sense of poetry that was innate in everything he wrote.