BOULEZ/MESSIAEN, an eventful filiation
A tribute to Pierre Boulez, is an old wish which comes true, as we will welcome Pierre Boulez, a Conductor and a composer.Boulez – Messiaen : a Meeting
A teacher chosen by elective affinity
The Young Boulez arrived in Paris in 1943, entered the Paris School Academy and aimed at entering the Superior Harmony class attributed, since 1941, to Messiaen. His eccentric reputation of the musical circle didn’t displease the young Boulez. He obtained, on June, 28th 1944, a meeting with Olivier Messiaen who wrote in his diary « Pierre Boulez… likes modern music, wants to get harmony lessons from me right now » which was done when Boulez was admitted to Messiaen’s class in 1944.
There was a good feeling between the master and the student. Boulez was invited by Messiaen to private classes of analyze and composition, that were given to a few students of the School Academy.
Quickly, Messiaen was aware that he really had a bright student who was also qualified as a « devouring personality ». He told Claude Samuel: « I remember the day we were going back to Beautreillis street where he lived : what a Time ! he said to me… who is going to be the great musician who will clear this horrible time ? And I answered ; but Boulez, it will be you ! And it was true »
Passing clouds
Quickly, Messiaen and Boulez’s paths diverged. Boulez, a bright musician, quickly obtained his first harmony prize and understood he had to pursue his training as a composer out of the School Academy. He asked René Leibowitz for help, proselyte of twelve-tone music. Boulez called all the students of Messiaen’s private classes and asked them to follow his new master’s instruction.
But Boulez will miss, in a few month, Messiaen’s expression, inspiration and his researches in modern music.
Reconciliation under the sign of a mutual respect
Boulez asserts himself as the first-rate creator but demanding with himself and the audience, which makes his reputation of a great composer.
He multiplies the writings in which he evaluates his master’s contribution: “We owe Olivier Messiaen to have created a conscious technique of duration… above all, we owe him the original idea to have untied the polyphonic writing’s rhythmic… we also owe him the creation of duration modes where the beating takes a functional value”.
Then, isn’t it surprising that the ink of his last book’s manuscript of the Structures for two pianos barely dry, Boulez rushes to Messiaen’s residence, as a sign as he said “that I agreed with him again”. The reconciliation was sealed on May 4th 1952, with the creation of this piece in front of all Paris by Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez playing the two pianos.
Messiaen confirms the return of this complicity by inviting Boulez to his class.
Messiaen in Boulez’s repertory, a conductor
To Boulez, conducting is an activist act to impose to concert the pieces he estimates are neglected, and to reach a new repertory. In 1974, he created the IRCAM and the ensemble Intercontemporain. He relinquished then to any permanent attachment to a great orchestra to dedicate himself to both these new institutions. However, he responded positively to the most prestigious orchestra invitations.
In his repertory as a conductor, Boulez gives Messiaen a great place. In Munich, on March 29th 1962, he integrated for the first time a piece by Messiaen to one of his concerts’ program: Chronochromie that he still defends in his programs.
On December 10th 1978, Messiaen’s 70th birthday, Boulez before conducting his ensemble Intercontemporain in Des Canyons aux Etoiles declared: “Beneath the very real complexities of his intellectual world, Messiaen has remained simple and capable of wonder.”
On the night of Olivier Messiaen’s death, April 27th 1992, Pierre Boulez, very moved, spoke to the Châtelet’s audience, before the start of Pelléas which he was conducting: “I want to dedicate this performance of Pelléas et Mélisande to Olivier Messiaen’s memory. It is a piece for which he felt a real passion… I will always be grateful to him for making me literally discovering such a master piece”.
Another sign of Pierre Boulez’s unfailing bond to Olivier Messiaen, was when he conducted the ensemble Intercontemporain in Les Oiseaux Exotiques during the final examination of the Olivier Messiaen competition of the city of Paris 2007, at la Cité de la Musique.
Worldwide creations for the Messiaen Festival in La Meije 2010
August 8th: The Possibilities – to Howard Barker for 8 cellos, by Frédéric Durieux.
Worldwide creation
Among Frédéric Durieux’s pieces, the harmonic refinement is part of Debussy, Messiaen, and Boulez’s lineage. A curious and cultivated mind, he finds inspiration as well in dance as in painting and drama. This will be the case for Frédéric Durieux’s creation.
For this piece for 8 cellos, he explains: “This title is a reference to a play by the dramatist Howard Barker named The Possibilities. I would like to pay a tribute to this great writer whose play Scene from an Execution I will turn into an opera booklet from 2011”.
August 7th: creation for violin solo, by Dai Fujikura
Worldwide creation
Very far from the exotism, Dai Fujikura has a conception of music which is inspired by cinema: “The sound prints airwaves as concretely as an image on a movie material support “. He does not hesitate to submerge the audience into the substance of the sound, as an image in a dark room does. He also nourishes his writing with a strong experience in the electronic field which he got both from the IRCAM and the experimental studio in Freiburg.