Madrid, SPAIN (Top40 Charts / BBVA Foundation) The fifth annual BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Contemporary
Music category goes to
Pierre Boulez, in recognition that "he is not only an eminent composer, with a determinedly forward vision, but also a key figure engaging in every aspect of musical reflection and transmission," in the words of the award citation. "The sum of his activities," the jury concludes, "evidences an acute awareness of the artist's intellectual and social responsibility in the modern age."
Pierre Boulez (Montbrison,1925) was a leading figure in the "historical avant-garde" that flourished in Darmstadt (Germany) in the 1950s, formed also by composers of the stature of Stockhausen, Berio, Ligeti and Nono. Boulez is considered to be the nexus between his forebears, his own generation and the composers of today.
His career has been defined by three intersecting paths which the jury chose to highlight. The first is Boulez the composer, thinker and teacher, whose works and writings marked a radical change in the way of understanding music, and are now an established part of the contemporary repertoire: Penser la Musique aujourd'hui (1964), Releves d'apprenti (1966), Par volonte et par hasard (1975), Points de repere (1985) are some examples of his legacy in this respect.
"From his beginnings as an artist," the jury affirms, "Pierre Boulez has opened up new perspectives in music. He has renewed musical writing and thought from the very foundations, applying a critical synthesis of the recent past and integrating elements of non-European music."
The second path belongs to Boulez the conductor, who has appeared at several festivals including Bayreuth (1966 and 1976), Donaueschingen, Salzburg, Berlin and Edinburgh, and taken the helm of some of the world's finest orchestras, including Cleveland (1967),
Chicago (1995), the New York Philharmonic (1971-1978), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1971-1975), among others.
On this facet of the man, the jury remarks: "As a conductor, he has not only championed contemporary composers, but has also renewed the orchestral repertoire and rejuvenated concert programming, in order to bring the public to a new understanding of music."
Boulez himself has this to say about balancing the two labors: "The problem with my life is that I am actually living two lives. I have the life of a composer, which is pure creativity, and I have the life of a performer, which involves reproducing something that is already there (...). The real complication is finding time for the two. If I was told you're not going to conduct any more... it wouldn't bother me for long; what is really important to me is to compose. If, on the other hand, I was told you are not going to write anything else, but just conduct, that would make me very unhappy, because it would kill a part of my creativity."
But there is still a third facet: theinstitutional Boulez, the force behind groundbreaking initiatives in the investigation and practice of the music of our time, like the Institut de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), Ensemble InterContemporain, Cite de la Musique or the Opera Bastille.
Through the creation of the IRCAM research institute and Ensemble InterContemporain, the first ever permanent contemporary music ensemble, Boulez, says the jury, has "helped to strengthen the connections between scientific investigation, composition and musical practice."
The new laureate is clear about the differences between scientific and artistic creation: "In science you have progress. What scientists do today is more concrete than what they did back in the 16th century. Not because they are more intelligent, but because they were born when science was at a more advanced stage. In music, there is not progress, only change. Wagner does not represent progress with respect to Mozart, they are on the same level of excellence."
