Pierre Boulez conducts Stravinsky and Debussy

Pierre Boulez directs some of his signature repertoire: Debussy and Stravinsky, two great musical innovators of the 20th century.

Boulez (1925 - 2016) was one of the most influential conductors and composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. His groundbreaking Debussy interpretations Nocturnes and Images opened new sonic horizons for as Boulez, with his astonishingly precise ear for pitch and sonority, understood the language of his legendary compatriot like few others.

Boulez's legendary sense of rhythm comes into play in Stravinsky's innovative Rite of Spring (1913), recorded by the BBC in 1997: he is the ideal interpreter for it. Boulez conducts with precision and a deep understanding of the soundscapes of each composer: he "thinks music" and confirmed himself many times over as the authority on 20th century music.

As Daniel Barenboim said about him in the New York Times, "Pierre doesn't need to be an ideologue anymore. Once something is achieved, there is no need to insist on it. He said opera houses should be burned, but basically he was trying to turn the musical world into something more progressive than what it was. It was the same as Debussy writing on his visiting card, 'French Musician'. Debussy was looking for an alternative to Central European music. So he had to be radical at a certain moment."