Pierre Boulez

Quite apart from his merits as composer, of which I know nothing, Pierre Boulez is the best conductor of XXth century music there has ever been. His foremost virtue in approaching these pieces is clarity. It is as if he alone, with his razor sharp mind and keen musical ear, really understood how they should be played. I was lucky to see him conduct the composers of the Viennese school, back in 1977, when he was at the New York Philarmonic, and I will never forget the revelation: the spaciousness, the precision, the chromatic beauty which really made these pieces come alive. Listen here to his interpretation of the Five Orchestral Pieces, by Anton Webern.