Pierre Boulez
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Biography
French conductor, composer and writer Pierre Boulez was a giant of classical music throughout the second half of the 20th century and until his death in 2016 aged 90. He won more than 30 Grammy Awards for his recordings of his own compositions and of composers such as Bartók, Berlioz, Debussy, Mahler, Ravel, Stravinsky and Wagner and in 2015 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award. He won ten Gramophone Awards as a conductor and four as a composer and in 1995 the magazine honoured him as Artist of the Year.
Born in France in a town just west of Lyon, he studied in Paris where in the late 1940s he became music director of a theatre company. He carved out a career as an innovative composer but in the 1950s he turned more and more to conducting. He conducted his own material and then expanded to include the works of others starting in 1959 with Bartók at the Aix-en-Provence and Donaueschingen Festivals. Appearances followed with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre National de France.
Boulez made his operatic conducting debut in 1963 at the Opéra National de Paris and appeared with the Frankfurt Opera, the Bayreuth Festival and the Osaka Festival. The Edinburgh International Festival in 1965 saw his first major presentation as conductor of his own work and he became principal guest conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra in America.
He conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic and appeared annually in Cleveland and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He continued to write and also conducted opera in Wales, the Netherlands and France. He made his last appearance as conductor in Salzburg in January 2012 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Mitsuko Uchida. He died at his home in Baden-Baden on 5th January 2016.
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Albums
Pierre Boulez
Schönberg : Pelleas und Melisande, Variations, Violin Concerto & Piano Concerto
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Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 - Vivace assai featuring Pierre Boulez
- Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35 - Cadenza featuring Pierre Boulez
- Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E Minor - III. Scherzo by The Cleveland Orchestra
- Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 - "Chant de la nuit", Op. 27 - Moderato assai... featuring Pierre Boulez
- Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 - "Chant de la nuit", Op. 27 - Vivace scherzando... featuring Pierre Boulez
- Berg: Lulu / Act 1: Verwandlungsmusik by Orchestre de lâOpéra national de Paris
- Stravinsky: 8 Instrumental Miniatures for 15 Players, K37: I-VIII by Ensemble Intercontemporain
- Stravinsky: Concerto in E-Flat Major "Dumbarton Oaks" - I. Tempo giusto by Ensemble Intercontemporain
- Berg: Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Wind Instruments - I. Thema scherzoso con variazioni featuring Pierre Boulez
- Berg: Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Wind Instruments - III. Rondo ritmico con introduzione featuring Pierre Boulez
- Berg: Chamber Concerto for Piano and Violin with 13 Wind Instruments - II. Adagio featuring Pierre Boulez
- Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments, K36 by Berliner Philharmoniker
- Messiaen: Sept haïkaï, esquisses japonaises pour piano solo et petit orchestre - 1. Introduction featuring Yvonne Loriod
- I. Lever du jour by Pierre Boulez
- Symphony No. 9 in D major~II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb
- Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2, Sz.112 - II. Andante tranquillo featuring Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Schoenberg: Herzgewächse, Op. 20 featuring Pierre Boulez
- Bartók: Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97 - 3. Melody
- Bartók: Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97 - 2. Bear Melody
- 5 Pieces for Orchestra, op. 10: IV. Fliessend, äuÃerst zart by Ensemble Intercontemporain
- Boulez: Pli selon Pli - Portrait de Mallarmé - No.3 Improvisation II sur Mallarmé : "Une dentelle s'abolit" featuring Ensemble Intercontemporain
- Berg: Lulu Suite - V. Adagio (Live) featuring Pierre Boulez
- Messiaen : Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum : III "L'heure vient où les morts entendront la voix
- Boulez: Pli selon Pli - Portrait de Mallarmé - No.5 Tombeau : "Un peu profond ruisseau calomnié, la mort" featuring Ensemble Intercontemporain
