Pierre Boulez A Celebration

Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh
Scotland
http://www.eif.co.uk

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Matthias Pintscher conductor

Composer, conductor and musical pioneer Pierre Boulez, who died in January, was one of the most influential figures in 20th- and 21st-century cultural life. This very special event celebrates his 56-year relationship with the Edinburgh International Festival as one of its closest and most cherished contributors.

Boulez’s connections with Edinburgh go right back to the second ever International Festival, in 1948, and he returned many times over the subsequent five decades with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, which he founded in 1976, as well as with many of the world’s leading orchestras.

German composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher was a close friend of Boulez and is a world-renowned interpreter of his music, also following in the great Frenchman’s footsteps as musical director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. In this special concert, Pintscher directs the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in music reflecting Boulez’s rich musical legacy and distinguished Edinburgh connections.

Boulez conducted Berg’s powerful Three Pieces for Orchestra several times at the International Festival, and Debussy’s exquisite La mer was one of the very first works he brought to Edinburgh, in 1965. Pintscher begins and ends the tribute concert with two of Boulez’s most personal works: his affectionate Mémoriale, and the colourful, lyrical ‘Don’ from his monumental Pli selon pli.



Pierre Boulez : ‘Don’ from Pli selon pli
Alban Berg : Three Pieces for Orchestra
Claude Debussy : La Mer
Pierre Boulez : Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe…Originel)