Total Immersion: Boulez at 90, Barbican Hall

The doyen of post-war avant-garde music, Pierre Boulez is among the most influential figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Barbican celebrate his 90th birthday in style with a Total Immersion Day. Comprising of talks, films and performances by the London Symphony Orchestra, Boulez’s own Ensemble Intercontemporain and the BBC Singers, it culminates in an evening concert featuring some miniature gems and his longest work to date.
Boulez’s Notations are amongst the composer’s earliest works. The set of miniatures was originally written for piano, but the orchestral arrangements retain the rhythmic verve and disorientating combinations of melodic fragments, combining them with bursts of instrumental colour. Based on the poems of Stéphane Mallarmé, Pli selon pli is a modern masterpiece. Drawing from expansive orchestral resources but possessing the intimacy of chamber music, it is a complex and alluring work, combining virtuosity with sensitivity to orchestral sonority. Each of the five movements create their own sound world, dominated by a colourful array of percussion. 
The BBC Symphony Orchestra has maintained a close relationship with Boulez for many years now, having recorded a number of his works under his baton. The ensemble are renowned for their prowess in contemporary music and garnered a great deal of praise for their performances of French repertoire in their Gallic-centred 2013/2014 season. The charismatic conductor François-Xavier Roth, admired for his colourful and dynamic interpretations, also has a particular affinity for Boulez’s music. Whether you are a seasoned Boulezian or new to the composer’s works, this will surely be an unmissable tribute to one of the great composers of our times.