These conversations about the art of conducting between Vermeil, a
French journalist, and Boulez demonstrate that the fanatic
conductor and composer (now 70) hasn't mellowed: He remains an
aggressive, ungenerous partisan with a bitchy wit. But they also
demonstrate why he is one of the two or three greatest conductors
of the second half of the century. The talks, which took place in
1988 and are presented in an excellent translation, do not form an
autobiography: There are few recollections of composers or
performers, and very little about Boulez's life when he's not on a
podium. Instead, this is, as the subtitle suggests, a guide to the
profession of conducting, and Boulez's advice, ranging from the
selection of repertoire to the mastery of gestures, from handling
rehearsals to dealing with audiences, is brilliant. Boulez sounds
too relentless, however, and too humorless to be very good company.
He remains an intensely private man, without a glittering array of
styles or sins, fiercely holding to professional competence as his
ideal, and dedicated to the total domination of music by such
modern composers as Webern, Berg, and Stravinsky. He finds Verdi
and Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and Puccini unfit for his programs. Boulez
reiterates here that he wants them out of the repertoire to make
room for music many find barren, boring, and arrogant. The volume
also includes an appreciation of Boulez by Paul Griffiths, a
conductor and a former pupil of the master, and a complete
discography. These conversations give insight into why Boulez's
conducting is at a genius level: He has an unparalleled grasp of
the scores, a fiercely intelligent command over the orchestra, and
is able as a result to create concerts and recordings that seem
nothing short of marvels. (Kirkus Reviews)
A giant of postwar music and the most powerful figure in the
contemporary French music scene, Pierre Boulez is widely known to
American and English audiences as both an important composer and as
star conductor of the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland
Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra. These candid interviews give us vintage Boulez - his
bold views, enigmatic wit, practical wisdom, and uncompromising
beliefs. Here the eminent composer, who has been called both "a
wild man of the avant-garde" and "the last true maestro" (New York
Times), talks about being one of the world's most controversial
conductors and daring programmers of musical taste. Boulez
sometimes locks horns with French author Jean Vermeil, who
confronts him with his past and prods him to discuss the future of
music and orchestras. Boulez tells how and why he chose his battles
and lays out his vision of the conductor's mission. He tells what
he learned - and didn't learn - from other conductors, and how he
feels about the composers who compromise his repertoire, including
Webern, Berg, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Messiaen (with whom he
studied), and, of course, Boulez himself.
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