I was honoured to be a member of The National Youth orchestra during the period in 1977 described in the video starting at 5’ 34”. I remember that we recorded The Rite of Spring at Goldsmith’s College with Sir Simon, and then Boulez arrived. We were all in awe of him, but he was such a decent and down-to-earth man that we quickly became comfortable with his relaxed but effective style. His knowledge and understanding of the music was profound. As Sir Simon relates, Boulez pulled apart the Stravinsky and built it up again. He had that style of using the tonic sol-fa very rapidly when he was talking to us about a particular set of notes. We also did the Berg violin concerto with Yitzhak Perlman. What most impressed me about Boulez was his quiet modesty. During the day we had sectional rehearsals, but would meet at the end of the day during the residential course at 5 pm for a 2 hour full rehearsal. Whenever the conductor came into the hall, the orchestra would stand. When the second rehearsal with Boulez came round he politely asked us not to bother. He just wanted to get straight into the music. He was a consummate musician.
Just listened to 37mins of PB. I wonder how many listen to this music? I like S Rattle a lot, but found the praise in this interview overblown... Everything is wonderful today etc etc.
On the contrary, he has always struck me as highly accessible as a composer (for the most part). I suspect some just don't care for the extreme seriousness of his public persona and the concomitant intimidation that seems to present for listeners who prefer perhaps the more unctuous discourse surrounding postminimalism, postmodernism post.... whatever else
Boulez was a great analyst,great conductor and a mediocre composer. Serialism is no more than a useless extrapolation of the 12 tone system. The entire Darmstadt school was a bunch of arrogant and condescending composers that were convinced they were the iluminatti. I believe Serialism IS a dark period in music history.
It seem you have no idea of what are you talking about...Boulez just compose 1 serialist work in his lifetime, then he move in another direction that obviously you don t get it...at least can you tell me of which I m talking about?
@@ivanbotaro4697 what do you even mean by only 1 serialist work? Do you not count the rest of his "total" serialist works? Polyphonie X, musique concrète études, Structures I & II are all serialist works. I dont know man, sounds like you are the one who has no idea what you are talking about
@@KinkyLettuce le notations, le marteau, anthemes, derive, repons, etc...Are serialists works for you? I think he s portrayed as an central figure of serialism, but After the total serialism experiment of structures he abandoned that very quickly, maybe it sound all same to you, but their compositions are very different from each other...
I was honoured to be a member of The National Youth orchestra during the period in 1977 described in the video starting at 5’ 34”. I remember that we recorded The Rite of Spring at Goldsmith’s College with Sir Simon, and then Boulez arrived. We were all in awe of him, but he was such a decent and down-to-earth man that we quickly became comfortable with his relaxed but effective style. His knowledge and understanding of the music was profound. As Sir Simon relates, Boulez pulled apart the Stravinsky and built it up again. He had that style of using the tonic sol-fa very rapidly when he was talking to us about a particular set of notes. We also did the Berg violin concerto with Yitzhak Perlman. What most impressed me about Boulez was his quiet modesty. During the day we had sectional rehearsals, but would meet at the end of the day during the residential course at 5 pm for a 2 hour full rehearsal. Whenever the conductor came into the hall, the orchestra would stand. When the second rehearsal with Boulez came round he politely asked us not to bother. He just wanted to get straight into the music. He was a consummate musician.
Ah cela fait du bien d entendre un tel hommage du grand musicien qu etait Mr Pierre Boulez...
Amazing.
Thank you
I didn't know Bea Arthur knew so much about Boulez.
+Daniel Friend I never laughed so much with a comment like I did now. LOL
"And Then There's Maude" was sung by Boulez. Check the credits.
Funny that, you never see Bea Arthur and Simon Rattle in the same room do you?
Thank you for being a friend.
Just listened to 37mins of PB. I wonder how many listen to this music? I like S Rattle a lot, but found the praise in this interview overblown... Everything is wonderful today etc etc.
Wow! You listened a whole 37 minutes! What dedication to understanding something you will never understand!
It's a very futile effort. At least you tried to understand it.
On the contrary, he has always struck me as highly accessible as a composer (for the most part). I suspect some just don't care for the extreme seriousness of his public persona and the concomitant intimidation that seems to present for listeners who prefer perhaps the more unctuous discourse surrounding postminimalism, postmodernism post.... whatever else
Look at him reading from a script!!
Phantom Of The Opera?? He's just looking down
@@mrnarason He's a conductor, all he does is read from a script.
Boulez was a great analyst,great conductor and a mediocre composer. Serialism is no more than a useless extrapolation of the 12 tone system.
The entire Darmstadt school was a bunch of arrogant and condescending composers that were convinced they were the iluminatti.
I believe Serialism IS a dark period in music history.
It seem you have no idea of what are you talking about...Boulez just compose 1 serialist work in his lifetime, then he move in another direction that obviously you don t get it...at least can you tell me of which I m talking about?
@@ivanbotaro4697 what do you even mean by only 1 serialist work? Do you not count the rest of his "total" serialist works? Polyphonie X, musique concrète études, Structures I & II are all serialist works.
I dont know man, sounds like you are the one who has no idea what you are talking about
@@KinkyLettuce Ok, I ve forgot Polyphonie X...I ll count two then...
@@ivanbotaro4697 nah, you still dont know what you are talking about
@@KinkyLettuce le notations, le marteau, anthemes, derive, repons, etc...Are serialists works for you? I think he s portrayed as an central figure of serialism, but After the total serialism experiment of structures he abandoned that very quickly, maybe it sound all same to you, but their compositions are very different from each other...
Boulez = Bad
Your Opinion = Irrelevant
Easy lazy bad comment
You = Silly