The polemicist’s precision and lucidity illuminated 20th century music in a way that few other conductors gain even approached. It is this that will be his legacyPierre Boulez was the last survivor of the generation of composers who defined the European avant garde in the years after the second world war. It may be that in the long term his achievements as a composer will not be rated as highly as those of his contemporaries such as Karlheinz Stockhausen,Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio, with whom he shared his mission to revolutionise unusual music and to rid it of its traditional associations. But through his activities as a conductor and musical educator, and his influence on musical life on both sides of the Atlantic has been incalculable,and arguably greater than that of any other musician of the last half century. How we listen to the music of the 20th century that is so firmly established in the repertory has been largely shaped by the way in which Boulez conducted it and the performing standards he set. Related: Pierre Boulez obituary Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com