DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON MARKS PIERRE BOULEZ’S CENTENARY WITH TWO MAJOR ANTHOLOGIES & A TROVE OF AUDIO-VISUAL CONTENT

Boulez The Conductor: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon & Decca is out now.
Featuring music by composers from Bartók to Webern, via Debussy, Mahler, Messiaen and Wagner, this edition is available as an 88-disc set and digitally

Pierre Boulez The Composer will be released as a 13-disc set on 28 February 2025

“Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end,
full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal.”
Pierre Boulez

Conductor, composer, polemicist, iconoclast, educator, mentor – Pierre Boulez was perhaps the most influential figure in the classical music world from the end of the Second World War until his death nine years ago. Deutsche Grammophon, with whom Boulez enjoyed a close relationship as both conductor and composer, is paying tribute to his vast legacy by reissuing two major anthologies, newly conceived as companion pieces, as well as by offering a wealth of audio-visual content on STAGE+. BOULEZ THE CONDUCTOR: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca is available now, as an 88-disc boxed set (84 CDs + 4 Blu‑rays) and as a 9‑volume A–Z digital edition. Pierre Boulez The Composer will be released on 28 February 2025 as a 13‑CD set.

Marking the centenary of his birth on 26 March, the man and his music are being placed centre-stage in numerous concerts, symposiums and other related events this year. From Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic to the Philharmonie de Paris, London’s Barbican (with the London Symphony and BBC Symphony orchestras), the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Cologne Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie (the Hamburg International Music Festival), and, of course, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, many of the ensembles and institutions with whom he worked over the decades will be honouring his memory [more details here].

BOULEZ THE CONDUCTOR EDITION

Known for the analytical insight he brought to a score and for the lucidity of his gestures, Boulez was a hugely respected and sought-after conductor. DG’s monumental boxed set features his benchmark recordings of Bartók, Mahler (the complete symphonies), Ravel, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Szymanowski, among others. BOULEZ THE CONDUCTOR also includes the legendary Bayreuth Centenary Ring cycle (directed by Patrice Chéreau) on Blu-ray, an interview in which Boulez discusses Debussy, Mahler and Webern, and a richly illustrated 208-page booklet with substantive articles in English, French and German by Wolfgang Stähr and Kenneth Chalmers, and a full repertoire index. The set is also available as a 9 volume A–Z digital edition.

PIERRE BOULEZ THE COMPOSER EDITION

As a composer, Boulez forged a style based on, among other things, his personal take on serialism, and the inventive exploration of sound and colour that also led him to found the electro-acoustic studio IRCAM in 1977. Produced entirely under the composer’s supervision, including in the choice of performances, Pierre Boulez The Composer presents a survey of the works he considered representative of his compositional art. In addition to such well-known works as Le Marteau sans maître, Notations, sur Incises, and many more, it features fragments and unfinished pieces, reflecting Boulez’s idea of music as an unending labyrinth. Performances include recordings by Boulez himself, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christine Schäfer, Roger Désormière, Ensemble intercontemporain, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de RTF, and the Wiener Philharmoniker. Also included is a disc with an exclusive interview with the composer by musicologist Claude Samuel. The accompanying 252-page booklet includes a new foreword by Laurent Bayle; an introduction and comprehensive liners on each work by Claude Samuel with notes from the composer; an index of works; bibliography; and a translation of the interview disc.

BOULEZ/CHÉREAU – DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN

The now-legendary staging of Wagner’s Ring for the 100th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival in 1976 is also available separately on Blu-ray video in remastered HD-quality, with audio layers in DTS-HD Master Audio Surround 5.1 and 24-bit Stereo PCM (subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German). It includes Peter Weinberg’s The Making of documentary (English with subtitles in French, Spanish, Japanese, German) and a 60‑page booklet with two texts in E/G, including a stunning in-depth analysis of the work and its music by Pierre Boulez himself, written for the original production, and Kenneth Chalmers’ Refreshing the Ring.

STAGE+

The work of Pierre Boulez also has a strong presence on Deutsche Grammophon’s streaming service STAGE+. Alongside a rich selection of audio albums, including the nine volumes of BOULEZ THE CONDUCTOR, are some fascinating filmed performances and documentaries. These range from symphonies by Bruckner and Mahler to a triple bill of stage works by Falla, Schoenberg and Stravinsky; a concert of Bartók, Debussy, Mozart and Ravel with Maria João Pires and the Berliner Philharmoniker; and the four operas of the Chéreau/Boulez Ring.