Boulez at Eighty

Pierre Boulez, now eighty, still patrols the corridors of music like a hip but ruthless headmaster. He recently remarked that Stravinsky “began so well” but produced “no content” after Les Noces, and he chided pop artists for failing to use “better tools.” There has been reaction; Thomas Adès, in the Guardian, compared Boulez’s artistic politicking to that of Madame de Pompadour. But let’s stop to celebrate what’s good in the man: the raw power of early works like Le Visage Nuptial, the ominous delicacy of Le Marteau sans Maître, and, of course, the laser-guided brilliance of his conducting. In January, with the London Symphony, Boulez put together the most potent Rite of Spring imaginable. Earlier this month he led a bracing seminar on Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra with the Chicago Symphony. And the Ensemble Sospeso recently commissioned eight works in honor of the birthday boy. One of the better efforts, ironically, was by a pop artist: Thurston Moore, of Sonic Youth, with his half-raucous, half-sweet piano piece.

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