BOULEZ, Pierre

b Montbrison, France, 26 March 1925

His early interests were mathematics and science, but in 1943 he began to study composition with Messiaen. On the recommendation of Honegger he was made musical director of the new Compagnie Renaud-Barrault in 1946. In 1954 he founded the Domaine Musicale series of concerts; in 1955 he was a lecturer at Darmstadt and in 1963 lectured at Harvard University and gave courses for conductor at Basle. In 1967 he became guest conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra, and in 1971 he became musical director of the BBC Symphony and the New York Philharmonic orchestras, relinquishing the former post in 1974 and the latter in 1978. In 1974 he took up the direction of the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique in Paris, in which post he has been able to expand himself as one of the great experimenters with serial techniques and with electronics.

1946 (21)

Le visage nuptial, for soprano, alto and chamber orchestra (first version)

Piano Sonata No 1

Sonatina for flute and piano

1947-8 (22-3)

Le soleil des eaux, for voices and orchestra

Piano Sonata No 2

1949 (24)

Livre pour cordes, for string orchestra

Livre pour quatuor, for string quartet

1951 (26)

fp Polyphonie X, for eighteen instruments

Second version of Le visage nuptial, for soprano, alto, choir and orchestra

1952 (27)

fp Structures, book 1, for two pianos

1954 (29)

Le marteau sans maître, for alto voice and six instruments

1955 (30)

Symphonie mecanique, music for the film

1957 (32)

Doubles for three orchestral groups divisi

Poesie pour pouvoir, for reciter, orchestra and tape

Deux improvisations sur Mallarmé, for soprano and instrumental ensemble

Piano Sonata No 3

1959 (34)

fp Tombeau, for orchestra

1960 (35)

fp Pli selon pli, Portrait de Mallarmé (Don; Improvisations I, II, III; Tombeau), for soprano and orchestra

1961 (36)

Structures, Book II, for two pianos

1964 (39)

fp Figures-Doubles-Prismes, for orchestra

Eclat, for fifteen instruments

1968 (43)

fp Domaines, for clarinet and twenty-one instruments

1970 (45)

Multiples, for orchestra

fp Cummings ist der Dichter, for sixteen mixed voices and instruments

1972 4 (47 9)

. . . Explosante-fixe . . ., for ensemble and live electronics

1974-5 (49-50)

Rituel, in memoriam Maderna, for orchestra in eight groups

1981 (56)

Repons, for soloists, tape and ensemble

1982-3 (57)

Poesie Pour Pouvoir (revision)