Concerts with works by

Pierre Boulez

Linie 2: 100 Jahre Pierre Boulez

A concert workshop in Freiburg's E-Werk will feature conductor Oscar Jockel explaining Pierre Boulez's "Polyphonie X" with the SWR Symphony Orchestra. This piece, a scandal at its 1951 premiere, connects Boulez's early and later styles. Following the analysis and full performance, the concert includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's "Fuga Ricerata" and Webern's Symphony Op. 21, highlighting polyphony and musical development, both crucial to Boulez's work. A second performance of "Polyphonie X" concludes the evening.

Linie 2: 100 Jahre Pierre Boulez

At the start of the Boulez Year, the Wizemann in Stuttgart will host a unique concert workshop. Conductor Oscar Jockel will introduce Boulez's "Polyphonie X," explaining it with excerpts played by the SWR Symphony Orchestra. This piece, a bridge between Boulez's early and later styles, caused a scandal at its 1951 premiere. The concert also includes Webern's arrangement of Bach's "Fuga Ricerata" and Webern's Symphony Op. 21, both relevant to Boulez's work, and concludes with a second performance of "Polyphonie X."

Eroica

In 1802, Beethoven decided to "embark on a new path", resulting in his deeply personal "Eroica" Symphony. This groundbreaking work aligns perfectly with Pierre Boulez, the revolutionary composer born 100 years ago. Boulez's twelve piano miniatures, "Notations" from 1945, are remarkably inventive, poetic, and surprisingly relaxed. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, a Boulez expert, will perform these pieces, alongside their orchestral versions. Ravel's "Miroirs" will provide a resonant afterglow.

Carte Blanche à Françoise Thinat

London Symphony Orchestra/Maxime Pascal

Celebrating Pierre Boulez and his influences, in the composer’s centenary year: his beloved Debussy, alongside three intriguing world premieres.

LSO Chamber Ensemble

Fanfares, massed cellos and electronics – a fascinating celebration of the music of Pierre Boulez, in his centenary year.

Das SWR Experimentalstudio in Freiburg mit Alfonso Gomez

BOULEZ ENSEMBLE & MICHAEL WENDEBERG

“Fold by fold”—pli selon pli—Pierre Boulez reveals a portrait of the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, arguably the most important literary influence on his music, in his eponymous work for soprano and orchestra. Michael Wendeberg, who worked closely with Boulez as pianist of the Ensemble intercontemporain, conducts excerpts from the composer’s most expansive score, in the piece’s Pierre Boulez Saal premiere. The program also includes the 1965 ensemble work Éclat as well as compositions by Maurice Ravel and Austrian composer Thomas Wally, born in 1981.

Ensemble!

TAMARA STEFANOVICH

In celebration of the Pierre Boulez centenary, Tamara Stefanovich performs the composer’s Second Piano Sonata of 1948, one of his defining early works. Known internationally for her interpretations of modernist and contemporary repertoire, the pianist pairs it with a selection of avant­-garde experiments on the sonata form from the early 20th century—including Scriabin’s mystic “Black Mass,” written in 1911, Busoni’s fantastical, atonal Sonatina seconda, and youthful works by Alban Berg, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Musik der Zeit – Pierre Boulez zum 100.

When the significant French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez passed away in 2016, Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth recalled her mentor in an obituary, remembering his way of "looking at music in a completely different way". Neuwirth composed a new piece for orchestra and electronics, electro-acoustic sounds that also repeatedly interested Boulez. The WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by guest conductor Jonathan Nott, performs Boulez's shimmering and floating sound portrait of the great symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, "Pli selon pli".

JACK QUARTET

Pierre Boulez’s Livre pour quatuor is among the most complex chamber music works of the 20th century. At the same time, the score—left unfinished by the composer—also has a fragmentary quality. The JACK Quartet, regularly heard at the Pierre Boulez Saal over the last few seasons, performs individual movements from Boulez’s only string quartet, pairing them with recent works by Eva­-Maria Houben and Anthony Cheung, among others, and the String Quartet in Four Parts by Boulez’s contemporary John Cage.

Sir Simon Rattle

Boulez, Berio, and Lachenmann: all three are celebrating anniversaries in 2025, and all three have contributed landmark works to modern music. Three of these exceptional works will be presented by Sir Simon Rattle, the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in this concert. First on the program will be Cummings ist der Dichter – a work in which Boulez convincingly accentuates the phonetic and semantic dimension of the words in an extremely refined and breathtakingly colorful manner. Laborintus II combines the anarchic charm of the 1960s with a quasi-baroque opulence. In his tuba concerto Harmonica, Helmut Lachenmann explores the sonic boundaries between eruption and silence. Stefan Tischler, principal tuba of the BRSO, will be the soloist.

BOULEZ ENSEMBLE & MATTHIAS PINTSCHER

A few days before Pierre Boulez’s 100th birthday, Matthias Pintscher and the Boulez Ensemble celebrate the composer, who passed away in 2016, with a perfor­ mance of sur Incises, his last major ensemble work. The program also includes Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp as well as Pintscher’s own beyond II (bridge over troubled water). Scored for the same combina­ tion of three instruments, it received its premiere as part of the digital Festival of New Music in the summer of 2020 and is now heard live at the Pierre Boulez Saal for the first time.

Polyphonie X

Composed by Pierre Boulez at age 26, Polyphonie X caused a riot when it premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival in 1951, deemed radical and later withdrawn by the composer. Today, we rediscover the visionary dimension of this little-known score.

Rituel

Benjamin Millepied and his company L.A. Dance Project combine the classicism of ballet with contemporary dance to celebrate a “ritual” with the orchestra based on three seminal scores of musical modernity. Benjamin Millepied's choreography for Rituel is commissioned by Orchestre de Paris - Philharmonie, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.

Rituel

Benjamin Millepied and his company L.A. Dance Project combine the classicism of ballet with contemporary dance to celebrate a “ritual” with the orchestra based on three seminal scores of musical modernity. Benjamin Millepied's choreography for Rituel is commissioned by Orchestre de Paris - Philharmonie, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.

Anniversaire Boulez | 100

In honour of the centenary of Boulez’s birth, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Les Métaboles revisit cummings ist der dichter and sur Incises, two masterpieces emblematic of his sources of inspiration and compositional process.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard & Tamara Stefanovich

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez - The Second Piano Sonata

Boulez’s shattering Second Piano Sonata, and two extraordinary works for solo clarinet, performed by the talented musicians of the Guildhall School and introduced by BBC Radio 3’s Kate Molleson.

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez - The Second Piano Sonata

Boulez’s shattering Second Piano Sonata, and two extraordinary works for solo clarinet, performed by the talented musicians of the Guildhall School and introduced by BBC Radio 3’s Kate Molleson.

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez - Pli selon pli

An evening-long tribute to the limitless creative mind of Pierre Boulez, culminating in a rare performance of his five-movement epic masterpiece Pli selon Pli.

Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez - Pli selon pli

An evening-long tribute to the limitless creative mind of Pierre Boulez, culminating in a rare performance of his five-movement epic masterpiece Pli selon Pli.

Wie frei ist die Kunst?

Das Ensemble Modern widmet sich in der Konzertreihe »Wie frei ist die Kunst?« mit Musik und Gesprächen dem Thema der Kunstfreiheit und deren Grenzen. Im Gesprächskonzert »Wie frei sind Veranstaltende?« sprechen Philharmonie-Intendant Louwrens Langevoort und Yilmaz Dziewior, Direktor des Museum Ludwig, darüber, wie Veranstaltende den Erwartungen des Publikums begegnen können. Welche Freiheiten gibt es in der Programmgestaltung bzw. welche Sachzwänge und äußeren Einflüsse wirken sich auf diese aus? Musikalisch schlägt das Konzert einen Bogen von streng konzipierter Avantgarde-Musik (Pierre Boulez »Dérive 1«) über niedrigschwellige Minimal Music (John Adams »Road movies«) bis hin zu dem 2002 entstandenen Stück »Unbreakable line. Hinged waist« von Jennifer Walshe.

Rising Stars: Carlos Ferreira & Pedro Emanuel Pereira

Bei den Festspielen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern erspielte sich Carlos Ferreira 2021 den begehrten Solistenpreis, beim renommierten Orchestre National de France ist er Soloklarinettist. Als Rising Star zeigt er nun seine Leidenschaft für die Kammermusik mit Klarinette.Der warme Klang der Klarinette war vor allem in der Romantik heiß begehrt, Johannes Brahms und Robert Schumann schrieben reizvolle Werk für Klarinette. Im 20. Jahrhundert spielte der Franzose Francis Poulenc mit deren unterschiedlichen Registerfarben, während Pierre Boulez die Klarinette in moderne Klangwelten führt, samt schwindelerregender Virtuosität und neuen Spieltechniken. Mit der Suite »Duas Igrejas« seines Landsmanns, Pianisten und Komponisten Pedro Emanuel Pereira stimmt Carlos Ferreira inbrünstige Fado-Töne an. Denn auch das kann die Klarinette: herzergreifend singen. »Rising Stars« ist ein Projekt der European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO). Carlos Ferreira wurde nominiert von Casa da Música Porto, Fundação Gulbenkian Lisbon und The Sage Gateshead.

Guest performance

Festtage­konzert Staatskapelle Berlin

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Boulez, an influential composer and conductor closely associated with the Staatskapelle Berlin. The FESTTAGE concert will feature music by Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler, composers with whom Boulez had a special relationship, and Boulez's own "Notations" for large orchestra, a piece familiar to the Staatskapelle.

Gewandhausorchester, Petr Popelka Dirigent

Pierre Boulez, the 20th-century music master, was never a Gewandhaus guest. Only his "Notations" has been performed there. Born 100 years ago, Boulez studied in Paris and quickly rose to fame. In the 1950s, he became known for enigmatic compositions and, in the 60s, as a conductor. "Éclat," a key work, combines 15 instruments. Boulez also made history as a conductor, shaping interpretations of Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Bartók. He founded the Ensemble InterContemporain, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard on piano.

Gewandhausorchester, Petr Popelka Dirigent

Pierre Boulez, the 20th-century music master, was never a Gewandhaus guest. Only his "Notations" has been performed there. Born 100 years ago, Boulez studied in Paris and quickly rose to fame. In the 1950s, he became known for enigmatic compositions and, in the 60s, as a conductor. "Éclat," a key work, combines 15 instruments. Boulez also made history as a conductor, shaping interpretations of Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Bartók. He founded the Ensemble InterContemporain, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard on piano.