He was a great admirer of the music of Erik Satie, who, like Cage, took little interest in conventions when it came to composing. Both artists also hated bourgeois art.
He composed the slowest and longest piece of music ever with Organ²/ ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible). The idea is that the piece is played as slowly as possible, although he never actually specified anywhere exactly how slow. The slowest performance started back in 2001, on an organ built especially for the occasion in a church in the German town of Halberstadt. For the first seventeen months, there was just silence; it was not until 2003 that the first notes could be heard. At this tempo, the piece will not be finished until 2640.
For the composition Music of Changes in 1951, Cage took as its basis the I Ching (Book of Changes), an ancient Chinese divination text that provides answers with the toss of coins or dice. Cage let himself be guided by chance for every new sound that he wrote. The sound result is remarkably similar to that of Boulez’ serial compositions.
He was a gifted player of the ondes Martenot, one of the oldest electronic musical instruments. Between 1943 and 1946, he played the instrument for a living during film and theatre performances.
At the beginning of his career, Boulez was rather daring in the criticisms he published. For example, he called for all opera houses to be blown up and wrote after Schönberg's death in 1951: ‘Without wanting to cause a stupid scandal, but equally without reprehensible hypocrisy and senseless melancholy, I do not hesitate to write: SCHÖNBERG IS DEAD.’ With the latter statement, he denounced the conservative attitude of Schönberg, who showed himself to be innovative in the use of the twelve-tone series, but then applied this within old structures such as the concerto and the symphony.
He had an impressive career as an orchestral conductor from the 1960s onwards and was renowned for his performances of the most important 20th-century works from the symphonic repertoire. In 1971 he succeeded Leonard Bernstein as conductor of the New York Philharmonic and at the same time became principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.
"even though they are polar opposites and their aesthetics are very different, they are connected by their search for beauty, their amazing orchestration and a feeling for sound," read the conductor's note for the concert Boulez & Cage
discover Jean-Luc Plouvier's favourite pieces for prepared piano with this Spotify-playlist
read the column by Jean-Luc Plouvier on John Cage's Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra
Discover 6 undeniable avant-garde classics with this carefully curated film selection by film journalist Robin Broos.
Boulez, the man who tried to reduce music to grids and sequences, series and schedules. Who composed with mathematical precision. Cage, the man who let music run wild. Who placed composing in the hands of fate. They seem to be two worlds that are miles apart, but in terms of radicality they are virtually identical. The Brussels Philharmonic combines some intense, compact compositions by Boulez with the unprecedented large form of Cage’s Concerto for Prepared Piano. Music that is now half a century old, but still sounds progressive.
Programme notes to the concerts Boulez & Cage: Giants of the Avant-Garde. --- Brussels Philharmonic reconciles some compact compositions by Boulez with works that typify Cage’s philosophy, including his iconic Concerto for prepared piano. Music that is now half a century old, but still sounds progressive.