Flotation Device salutes Pierre Boulez for his 100th birthday, with a focus on his career as a composer, beginning with his apprenticeship under Messiaen, and continuing through the breakthrough works of the 50s, the mellower later one, and his embrace of high-end computer music after the founding of IRCAM. Through it all we acknowledge Boulez’s stature as one of the truly great composers in Webern’s direct lineage, but also as a latter-day representative of the longstanding French infatuation with sensuous color and organic form. We also reflect on his conducting career, and how the orchestral sound he cultivated—with its emphasis on precision and crystalline textures—has become a reference point for modern digital multitrack recordings of classical music. We're helped by Ensemble intercontemporain and Seattle Symphony, while cameos by Frank Zappa, Philip Glass and Boulez himself offer perspective on this last superstar of the postwar avant-garde.
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Flotation Device 2025-03-23: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Pierre Boulez (1925–2016) [0:00]
1. [1:47] Notations I–IV. From Berio: Sinfonia, Boulez: Notations I–IV, Ravel: La valse (Seattle Symphony, 2017) with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Ludovic Morlot (conductor), Dmitriy Lipay (recording engineer). NOTE: Originally composed for piano 1945, orchestrated 1977–78 and premiered June 1980 by Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim
2. [12:53] Pierre Boulez on becoming a conductor (Charlie Rose, 1999)
3. [13:33] Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10 - 3. Sehr langsam und äußerst ruhig. From Boulez Conducts Webern (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) with Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez (conductor), Helmut Burk (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1914
4. [15:14] Anton Webern: Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5 - 3. Sehr bewegt. From Works For String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) with Emerson String Quartet: Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), David Finckel (cello), Max Wilcox (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1909
5. [15:53] Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10 - 4. Fließend und äußerst zart. From Boulez Conducts Webern (as above)
6. [16:21] Anton Webern: Concerto, Op. 24 - 2. Sehr schwungvoll. From Boulez Conducts Webern (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) with Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano), Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez (conductor), Helmut Burk (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1934
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SET 2: Antecedents [18:56]
1. [22:34] Olivier Messiaen: Quatre Études de rythme - 2. Mode de valeurs et d'intensités. From Messiaen: Complete Edition (Deutsche Grammophon, 2008) with Roger Muraro (piano), Michel Gache (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1949–50
2. [25:56] Pierre Boulez on minimalism (Kyle Gann, 1987)
3. [26:37] Pli Selon Pli - Improvisation 3 sur Mallarmé, Tombeau (excerpts). From Pli Selon Pli (Dentsche Grammophon, 2002) with Christine Schäfer (soprano), Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez (conductor), Stephan Flock (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1957–62, definitive version completed 1989
4. [36:10] Philip Glass on Boulez and the New York new music scene c.1974 (Other Minds Archives, 1985)
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SET 3: The masterless hammer [36:48]
1. [38:49] Sur Incises (excerpts). From Sur Incises, Messagesquisse, Anthèmes 2 (Deutsche Grammophon, 2000) with Ensemble Intercontemporain: Dimitri Vassilakis, Hidéki Nagano, Florent Boffard (piano), Frédérique Cambreling, Sandrine Chatron, Marianne Le Mentec (harp), Vincent Bauer, Michel Cerutti, Daniel Ciampolini (percussion), Pierre Boulez (conductor), Reinhard Lagemann (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1996–98, premiered August 30, 1998 by Ensemble Intercontemporain and David Robertson, Edinburgh, UK
2. [45:53] Frank Zappa introduces Le Marteau sans maître (KSAN-FM San Francisco, 1968, via Other Minds Archives)
3. [47:47] Le Marteau sans maître - 2. Commentaire I de "Bourreaux de solitude". From Boulez: Le Marteau sans maître, Stockhausen: Nr. 5 Zeitmasse for five woodwinds (Odyssey, 1968) with Arthur Gleghorn (alto flute), Milton Thomas (viola), Dorothy Remsen (xylorimba), Walt Goodwin (tambourine, bongos, frame drum), Robert Craft (conductor). NOTE: Composed 1953–55, premiered June 18, 1955, Baden-Baden
4. [51:27] Le Marteau sans maître - 5. Bel édifice et les pressentiments (1st version). From Boulez conducts Boulez (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005) with Hilary Summers (mezzo-soprano), Ensemble intercontemporain: Emmanuelle Ophèle (alto flute), Marie-Thérèse Ghirardi (guitar), Odile Auboin (viola), Pierre Boulez (conductor), Wolf-Dieter Karwatky (recording engineer)
5. [55:29] Outro with Frank Zappa: The Perfect Stranger (Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez)
6. [59:53] Dialogue de l'ombre double (excerpts). From Dialogues (Brilliant Classics, 2015) with Erik Bosgraaf (recorders), Jorrit Tamminga (electronics). NOTE: Composed 1985 for clarinet, premiered by Alain Damiens October 28, 1985 in Florence. This is the premiere recording of the recorder version
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SET 4: Digital gamelans [1:08:05]
1. [1:10:26] Pierre Boulez on Balinese music (Other Minds Archives, 1986)
2. [1:11:46] Répons (excerpts). From Répons, Dialogue de l'ombre double (Deutsche Grammophon, 1998) with Dimitri Vassilakis (piano), Florent Boffard (piano), Frédérique Cambreling (harp), Vincent Bauer (vibraphone), Daniel Ciampolini (xylophone, glockenspiel), Michel Cerutti (cimbalom), Ensemble intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez (conductor), Andrew Gerzso, (electroacoustic realization, IRCAM), Jean-Marc Jot (sound spatialization), Jürgen Bulgrin, Mark Buecker (recording engineers)
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SET 5: Rituals [1:29:58]
1. [1:33:29] Notations - 4. Rythmique, 8. Modéré jusqu'à très vif. From …Explosante-fixe… et al (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) with Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano), Hans-Rudolf Müller (recording engineer). NOTES: Composed 1945
2. [1:34:42] Anthèmes 2 - 6.2. Calme, régulier, Agité, Brusque. From Sur Incises, Messagesquisse, Anthèmes 2 (Deutsche Grammophon, 2000) with Hae-Sun Kang (violin), Andrew Gerszo (electroacoustic realization, IRCAM). NOTE: Composed 1997, premiered by these performers October 19, 1997, Donaueschingen, Germany
3. [1:38:53] Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna (excerpts). From Mahler: Symphony No. 9, Boulez: Rituel, Notations (Hänssler Classic/SWR Classic, 2005) with SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Michael Gielen (conductor), Frank Wild, Ute Hesse (recording engineers). NOTE: Composed 1974–75, premiered April 2, 1975, London by BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
4. [1:56:22] Outro with Olivier Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez)
Photo credits: Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez by Christian Steiner, Boulez by Dennis Polkow, Boulez via New York Philharmonic Archives, Boulez and Yvonne Loriod via Ullstein Bild/AKG images, Boulez with Bruno Maderna and Karlheinz Stockhausen via Stockhausen, opening chord of Pli Selon Pli via Michael Schell, Frank Zappa and Boulez by Joël Robine (AFP), Boulez and Olivier Messiaen via Andrew Crust, Boulez in the studio by David Rentas, György Ligeti and Boulez by Jean-Pierre Leloir, Boulez and Barbara Hannigan by Jean Radel.