Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Born: March 26, 1925
Died: January 5, 2016
in Montbrison, Loire, France
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.

Born in Montbrison, in the Loire department of France, the son of an engineer, Boulez studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, and privately with Andrée Vaurabourg and René Leibowitz. He began his professional career in the late 1940s as music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company in Paris. He was a leading figure in avant-garde music, playing an important role in the development of integral serialism in the 1950s, controlled chance music in the 1960s and the electronic transformation of instrumental music in real time from the 1970s onwards. His tendency to revise earlier compositions meant that his body of work was relatively small, but it included pieces considered landmarks of twentieth-century music, such as Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli and Répons. His uncompromising commitment to modernism and the trenchant, polemical tone in which he expressed his views on music led some to criticise him as a dogmatist.

Boulez was also one of the most prominent conductors of his generation. In a career lasting more than sixty years, he was music director of the New York Philharmonic, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made frequent appearances with many other orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He was known for his performances of the music of the first half of the twentieth century—including Debussy and Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartók, and the Second Viennese School—as well as that of his contemporaries, such as Ligeti, Berio and Carter. His work in the opera house included the production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival, and the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's opera Lulu. His recorded legacy is extensive.

He also founded several musical institutions. In Paris he set up the Domaine musical in the 1950s to promote new music; in the 1970s he established the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique (IRCAM), to foster research and innovation in music, and the Ensemble intercontemporain, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music. Later he co-founded the Cité de la musique, a concert hall, museum and library dedicated to music in the Parc de la Villette in Paris and, in Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works. ...

Source: Article "Pierre Boulez" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Pierre Boulez...

Der Jahrhundertring 1976 - Sternstunden der Musik
Title: Der Jahrhundertring 1976 - Sternstunden der Musik
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 14, 2021
Type: Movie
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Zappa
Title: Zappa
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 27, 2020
Type: Movie
With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.
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Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
Title: Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: May 3, 2016
Type: Movie
Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into Frank Zappa’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.
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Pierre Boulez at the BBC: Master and Maverick
Title: Pierre Boulez at the BBC: Master and Maverick
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 29, 2016
Type: Movie
Tom Service presents 40 years of great BBC archive featuring the French composer, conductor and musical icon Pierre Boulez, who died on 5th January 2016 at the age of 90
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Maurizio Pollini: De main de maître
Title: Maurizio Pollini: De main de maître
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2014
Type: Movie
A unique film portrait of the famous Italian pianist. Maurizio Pollini felt himself that the time had come to submit to the probing of the camera, an exercise made all the more necessary because of his usual avoidance of the public eye.
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Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Title: Gustav Mahler: Adagio from Symphony No. 10
Character: Conductor
Released: May 5, 2011
Type: Movie
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahler’s birth and just one month short of his own 85th birthday, composer-conductor Pierre Boulez marked his forty-five-year collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra by directing this very special Mahler-only concert at Ohio’s splendid Severance Hall. Following the Adagio from the unfinished Tenth Symphony, he presented Twelve Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with soloists Magdalena Kožená and Christian Gerhaher, both much-sought-after opera and concert singers on the world’s leading stages.
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Bartok: Concerto for Violin - Gidon Kremer, Pierre Boulez
Title: Bartok: Concerto for Violin - Gidon Kremer, Pierre Boulez
Character: Self - conductor
Released: January 1, 2010
Type: Movie
An all Bartók programme featuring one of the leading violinists - Gidon Kremer - and one of the world's leading viola players - Yuri Bashmet. The Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Pierre Boulez, conclude this concert with the The Miraculous Mandarin, a work composed in 1918-1919. By the time it was premiered, the score caused a scandal due to the eroticism of its argument.
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Knots and Fields
Title: Knots and Fields
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2010
Type: Movie
Knots and Fields examines the aesthetic debates and tensions that have animated the Darmstadt courses over six decades, exploring their relevance today in an increasingly globalised environment.
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For Art's Sake: The Story of Ballets Russes
Title: For Art's Sake: The Story of Ballets Russes
Character: Self - Composer and Conductor
Released: December 12, 2009
Type: Movie
In the centenary year since the founding of the Ballets Russe, this documentary looks back at Sergei Diaghilev and the company he created, what they did and the influence they had, even a 100 years later.
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From the House of the Dead
Title: From the House of the Dead
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: July 20, 2007
Type: Movie
Set in a Siberian prison camp, Janacek's final opera centers on the experiences of recent arrival Alexandre Petrovitch Goriantchikov (Olaf Bar), a nobleman who finds relief from the harsh conditions in the friendship of the illiterate Alyeya (Eric Stoklossa). Recorded at the Grand Theatre de Provence, this stage production is directed by the well-respected Patrice Chereau and features famed conductor Pierre Boulez. Filmed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival on 20 July 2007.
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Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Resurrection
Title: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 Resurrection
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 2007
Type: Movie
In 2005, the Staatsoper Berlin and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin under musical director Daniel Barenboim, celebrated a series of events to celebrate the 80th birthday of French conductor and composer Pierre Boulez. Artistically associated for decades with Barenboim and Berlin, Pierre Boulez is one of today's most distinguished composers and conductors. As part of the celebration, Boulez conducted a performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonie. With his uncompromising approach to the score, Pierre Boulez's Mahler readings have long fascinated critics and audiences alike. Boulez eschews the romanticized readings common in performance tradition and, instead, reveals the real joy and terror in Mahler's large-scale symphonies.
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Boulez at 80
Title: Boulez at 80
Character: Self - conductor
Released: November 12, 2005
Type: Movie
Pierre Boulez conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a special concert from the Barbican, as part of the composer's 80th birthday celebrations. The programme contains two compositions by Debussy; Jeux and Trois ballades de Villon, as well as Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, featuring soprano Elizabeth Atherton as soloist.Presenter Charles Hazlewood interviews Boulez and discusses the concert with guest Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
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A Labyrinth of Time
Title: A Labyrinth of Time
Character: self
Released: June 17, 2004
Type: Movie
Carefully composed portrait of prominent modern composer Elliott Carter (1908-1912). Scheffer depicts both the person and the development in his music and the musical tradition it grew out of, as well as the time in which the American Carter grew up. The result: historical images of the city of New York, old film footage, cinematographic finds to illustrate the music and statements by conspicuous fellow-composers and musicians, including Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim.
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Pierre Boulez: Emotion and Analysis
Title: Pierre Boulez: Emotion and Analysis
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2004
Type: Movie
Boulez rehearsing with the Berlin Philharmonic
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Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note
Title: Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note
Character: Self
Released: June 20, 2002
Type: Movie
Frank Zappa: Phase Two is a 2002 documentary about Frank Zappa. It features a lot of footage from Scheffer's previous film, but new material from Malcolm McNab's private achive.
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One Night, One Life
Title: One Night, One Life
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: March 4, 2002
Type: Movie
In the film One Night. One Life, based on the cycle Pierrot Lunaire, Arnold Schönberg’s opus 21, director Oliver Herrmann has created a surreal, at times grotesque dream world set in a modern city, through which Pierrot moves like a spirit. In each new number she passes through different scenes and levels of the world around us: such as an abattoir, a peep-show, a station or a supermarket.
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Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die
Title: Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die
Character: Self
Released: July 2, 2000
Type: Movie
Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die is a 2000 documentary about Frank Zappa.
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Sur incises: A lesson by Pierre Boulez
Title: Sur incises: A lesson by Pierre Boulez
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2000
Type: Movie
With warmth, modesty and infectious enthusiasm, Boulez explains the hidden architecture of his most recent work, Sur Incises, to a non-specialized young audience. On a number of occasions, Pierre Boulez has shown that he can come up with the right words and gestures to throw a light on complex musical scores. Here he demonstrates his teaching talents in talking about his work as a composer: after conducting the nine soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, who follow him with visible pleasure through the mysteries of a spectacular score, he offers a witty exposition of the musical movements that make up its construction.
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The Seventh Door
Title: The Seventh Door
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1998
Type: Movie
A documentary about the life and work of the Hungarian composer and conductor, Peter Eotvos.
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Bruckner: Symphony No. 8: Wiener Philharmoniker
Title: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8: Wiener Philharmoniker
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: January 1, 1996
Type: Movie
On the 100-year anniversary of the death of Joseph Anton Bruckner, Pierre Boulez conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in their interpretation of Bruckner's "Symphony No. 8." A complex masterpiece, the composition is considered one of the last great Romantic symphonies. Classical music lovers will delight at Boulez's beautiful rendition of the strongly emotional piece that remains true to Bruckner's original intentions.
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Abbado: The Silence that Follows the Music
Title: Abbado: The Silence that Follows the Music
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1996
Type: Movie
Shot over a two-year period observing Abbado: a) Rossini, Overture to 'll Barbiere di Siviglia' b) Schubert, Symphony no. 2 B-Major, D. 125 c) Arnold Schonberg, Kammersinfonie no. 1 E-Major op. 9 (Filmed in Venice, Gran Teatro La Fenice, in February 1995, Chamber Orchestra of Europe). a) Richard Strauss, Elektra (Deborah Polaski, Karita Mattila, Marjana Lipovsek, Ferrucio Furlanetto) b) Beethoven, Symphony no 6 F-Major, op. 68, 'Pastorale' (Filmed in the Festspielhaus Salzburg on the occasion of the Easter Festival, April 1995, Berlin Philharmonic). a) Beethoven, Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 3 C-MINOR, OP. 37 (Maria Joao Pires) b) Bruckner, Symphony no. 9 D-Minor (Filmed in Paris, Cite de la Musique, in August 1995, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra).
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Eclat
Title: Eclat
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1993
Type: Movie
Eclat is a fascinating documentary about the work. We witness rehearsals by the Netherlands' Nieuw Ensemble, hear comments about the piece from the composer, conductor Ed Spanjaard and some of the musicians, and we see a full performance of the work. Eclat ("To burst out") is a beautiful example of the strangely lyrical pointillist style that Boulez had inherited from Anton von Webern. Aural pinwheels and shifting musical kaleidoscopes with stunning instrumental color is the only way to verbally describe what must be heard to be understood. This is definitely not for those who hate "modern" music. For those who respond to contemporary music, this piece is masterful and this film is a must-see!
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Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko
Title: Frank Zappa: Peefeeyatko
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
For the past ten years Zappa in composing has turned away from Rock and Roll music - for which he first became famous - and has been working on new, contemporary, orchestral electronic music; in solitude and beyond any commercial conventions or commitments. It is the first time that Zappa has allowed a film crew to study him during compositional work, actually filming the first moments of a new compositional process. By contrast, in a staged interview Zappa gives comments on music. This film seeks to reveal the sensetivities of Zappa's personality and character also beyond narrative content.
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Alban Berg - Lulu
Title: Alban Berg - Lulu
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: January 1, 1986
Type: Movie
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Otto Klemperer's Long Journey Through His Times
Title: Otto Klemperer's Long Journey Through His Times
Character: Self
Released: May 16, 1985
Type: Movie
Relying on a bounty of archival footage and interviews with prominent musicians and intimates, Philo Bregstein's film traces the life and career of the conductor and composer Otto Klemperer, one of the foremost musicians of his time.
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Götterdämmerung
Title: Götterdämmerung
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: August 12, 1980
Type: Movie
Götterdämmerung, the fourth of Richard Wagner's four Ring operas. The cast features Manfred Jung as Siegfried and Gwyneth Jones as Brünnhilde, with music provided by Bayreuther Festspiele Orchester conducted by Pierre Boulez. This title is available in a boxed set with the other Ring operas, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, and Siegfried.
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Wagner: Das Rheingold
Title: Wagner: Das Rheingold
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: August 12, 1980
Type: Movie
This is a beautifully conducted and thoughtfully staged performance of the first opera (the prologue) in Wagner's Ring Cycle. As soon as the clouds of mist have dissipated, while the daring, long-held opening chord is still reverberating, the screen clears to show not only the River Rhine and the three maidens (dressed like prostitutes in this production) assigned to guard the gold hidden there. It also shows an enormous dam (not mentioned in Wagner's text). This is the underwater base of a hydroelectric plant, and its presence tells us two things immediately: that this production takes the story out of the vaguely medieval fantasy world in which Wagner had placed it, and that a basic theme of the four-opera cycle would be power. Alberich, the Nibelung, is willing to renounce the love of women, after stealing the gold from the Rhine, to become the ruler of the world. Another basic theme is greed.
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Siegfried
Title: Siegfried
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: August 12, 1980
Type: Movie
The third opera in Richard Wagner's epic Ring cycle, Siegfried follows the adventures of the son of demigods Siegmund and Sieglinde as he conquers his enemies and rescues the beauteous Brunnhilde with the help of his magic sword. This video preserves the controversial 1976 Bayreuth Centenary production, with Pierre Boulez leading the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. Manfred Jung leads the cast as Siegfried, with Gwyneth Jones as Brunnhilde, Donald McIntyre as the Wanderer, and Hermann Becht as Alberich.
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Wagner: Die Walküre
Title: Wagner: Die Walküre
Character: Self - Conductor
Released: August 12, 1980
Type: Movie
The second part of Patrice Chérau's epoch-making Bayreuth Ring is a radical re-imagining of Die Walküre, unprecedented in its psychological penetration. This production of " Die Walkure," staged as part of Patrice Chereau's Centenary celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the completion of the "Ring," this lavish performance features Donald McIntyre as Wotan, Peter Hofmann as Siegmund, and Gweneth Jones as Brunnhilde; Pierre Boulez conducts the Orchester Der Bayreuther Festspiel.
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Rituel
Title: Rituel
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1979
Type: Movie
Music performed by The New York Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Pierre Boulez. Schwartz manipulates by computer, in real-time the images of the Maestro to realize a unity between his music and the picture.
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Title: The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
Released: June 6, 1968
Type: TV
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
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A Stravinsky Portrait
Title: A Stravinsky Portrait
Character: Self
Released: May 16, 1967
Type: Movie
This documentary follows composer and conductor Igor Stavinsky at his home in California, in London, and in Hamburg where he conducts an orchestra rehearsal. Includes conversations with a variety of friends and musical collaborators. Includes footage of Stravinsky and Balanchine discussing the Variations (in memoriam Aldous Huxley) and rehearsing their ballet Apollo with Suzanne Farrell.
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The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse
Title: The Great Rehearsals: Homage to Edgard Varèse
Character: Self
Released: April 20, 1966
Type: Movie
Edgard Varèse died on 6 November 1965, a few days before the filming of the rehearsal of his work "Déserts" which he had to attend.
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Title: En direct de...
Character: self
Released: February 16, 1956
Type: TV