By Neco Verbis —
The death of Pierre Boulez, which occurred Tuesday, January 5 in Baden-Baden (Germany), offers a truly end to the twentieth century avant-garde music. He was born in march 26 1925 in Montbrison (Loire) and contributed significantly to shaping with other composers born in the 1920s: Italians Bruno Maderna (1920-1973), Luigi Nono (1924-1990) and Luciano Berio (1925-2003), the German Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), the Austrian Hungarian-born Ligeti (1923-2006 ) and the Belgian Henri Pousseur (1929-2009).
Among them, Boulez was the most famous in the world, the most listened to and most feared. His power and influence were so much bigger than the composer was also a prominent conductor, theorist and head of institutions and a formidable polemicist.
This is the simple great musician’s commemoration by M° Daniel Barenboim, on his Facebook page:
“Today, the music world has lost one of its most significant composers and conductors. Personally, I have a lost a great colleague, a deeply admired creative mind and a close friend. Pierre Boulez and I first met in Berlin in 1964 and there have been few fellow musicians with whom I have developed such a close and important relationship in the 52 years that followed – even though we always stuck to the formal “vous” when speaking to each other, a rarity in our rather informal world, but from my side, certainly, an expression of my deepest respect and admiration.
“Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary”, Pierre Boulez once wrote. With this belief as his paradigm, Pierre Boulez has radically changed music itself as well as its reception in society. He always knew exactly when he had to be radical because it was a necessary requirement for music and society to develop. He was never dogmatic, however, but always retained his ability to develop himself further. His development was based on a deep knowledge of and respect for the past. A true man of the future must know the past, and for me, Pierre Boulez will always remain an exemplary man of the future.
Pierre Boulez has achieved an ideal paradox: he felt with his head and thought with his heart. We are privileged to experience this through his music. For this, and so much more, I will always be grateful.”
Daniel Barenboim, 6 January 2016“
SOURCES LE MONDE FRANCE, M° BARENBOIM’S FACEBOOK OFFICIAL PAGE
PHOTOS Hiroyuki Ito, Larry C. Morris for The New York Times, M° Barenboim’s Facebook Official page