Boulez on conducting : converstations with Cecile Gilly / Pierre Boulez and Cecile Gilly ; translated by Richard Stokes.
By: Boulez, Pierre [author.]
.
Contributor(s): Favre-Gilly, Cecile [author.] | Stokes, Richard [translator.].
Material type: 
BookPublisher: London : Faber and Faber Limited, 2003Copyright date: ©2003Description: ix, 150 pages ; 21 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 0571219675 (hardback).Subject(s): Boulez, Pierre, 1925-2016 -- Interviews | Conductors (Music) -- France -- Interviews | Composers -- France -- InterviewsDDC classification: 780.92 BOU | Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General lending | MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending | 780.92 BOU (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 00235991 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Pierre Boulez is arguably the single most influential - and controversial - figure in the world of music today. As composer, conductor and personality, his challenging views are lent a special authority by his very high standing as an interpreter of great composers such as Wagner, Debussy, Bartók and Stravinsky. He regularly appears to great acclaim on concert platforms and in opera houses around the world.
In these unique conversations with Cécile Gilly, he recalls not only the great moments of his career, but brings penetrating insights into the art of conducting, including his views on other great composer-conductors (Berlioz, Wagner, Mahler, Strauss). Boulez speaks unusually frankly about his own rapport with conductors as a composer, and how he sees the role of the conductor today.
Includes index.
From stage music to the Ring -- A look at some great composer-conductors -- The founding of the EIC and IRCAM -- Gestures and the score -- Conducting and teaching.
Translated from French.
Alan Cutts Collection.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
As a child, Pierre Boulez sang in his church choir. His sister taught him to play the piano at an early age. He received additional training in music from private teachers. Despite his musical aptitude, his parents directed him toward a career in engineering; however, his interest and talent in music eventually won out. After he graduated from the Paris Conservatory in 1945, Boulez continued to study with Olivier Messiaen, one of his teachers at the conservatory. That same year, Boulez completed his first composition, Three Psalmodies, for piano, which exhibits an influence of Messiaen's intricate rhythms.Boulez believed that twentieth-century composers were meant to create a new musical language free from romantic associations. The 12-tone system of Arnold Schoenberg dominated his writing and thinking. In 1946 he wrote a sonata for piano and a sonata for two pianos that used a strict 12-tone row.
Although the 12-tone system greatly influenced Boulez's compositions, he took his music one step further. In 1948 Boulez wrote a second piano sonata that broke the bounds of the 12-tone system. Boulez aimed for the application of the 12-tone technique not only to pitch, as had been previously done, but also to durations, dynamics, and articulation. During the 1950s Boulez continued to experiment with music and sounds, incorporating concrete music. Polyphonie x Polyphonie x, for 18 instruments (1951), exemplifies this technique. In later years, Boulez also experimented with rearranging the stage of the traditional symphony orchestra. In 1966 Boulez again became the center of controversy when he announced he was severing all connections with the French government and disassociating himself from all its music organizations.
(Bowker Author Biography)