Composer Pierre Boulez dies

Pierre Boulez, whose compositions encouraged classical music to move in radical new directions, has died at 90, his family announced.

At the same time to be a world-renowned composer, Boulez was pianist and a prolific writer and was called the head of the Paris Philharmonic.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls paid tribute to Boulez on Twitter, writing: ‘Courage, innovation, creativity, this is what Pierre Boulez meant to the world of French music, of which he made a beacon of light throughout the world’.

He even ended up lending his name to Private Eye’s Music and Musicians column, rounding up gossip from the classical world – the column was always bylined “Lunchtime O’Boulez”, to differentiate it from the other regular byline, “Lunchtime O’Booze”.

As a conductor Boulez worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras and was especially celebrated for his interpretations of 20th century composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok.

Initially studied mathematics then switching to music and studying at the Paris Conservatory. “It’s a product of culture – not for marketing, but to enrich lives”. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Messiaen from whom he discovered twelve-tone technique and went on to write atonal music.

He once said that music was not there to “please people”, but to “disturb them”.

Boulez’s compositions were noted for their difficulty, with one of his defining works, “Le Marteau Sans Maitre” (“The Hammer Without a Master“), drawing inspiration from surrealist poetry and lacking any bass line. His early music was radical and experimental, and later became progressively associated with computer technology – particularly following his foundation in 1977 of the Parisian contemporary music centre, Institute for the Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music.

Thiem, Boulez’s assistant, said he never married.

French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez and Canadian folk rock singer Joni Mitchell were awarded Sweden’s prestigious Polar Music Prize in 1996. Funeral plans were incomplete. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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