Pierre Boulez

G. invited me to a short concert of music by Pierre Boulez. When she invited me, I thought of Hector Berlioz and asked if he was still alive. Boulez is a student of Messiaen and is very much alive. Berlioz died in 1869.

The concert was held in the Magic Room at the top of the LVMH building. Three of the walls were glass. The ceilings towered over the space. The performance celebrated the inaguration of the French-American Fund for Contemporary Music. Hors d'oeuvres were served along with champagne. Speeches were made, and then the performances given. Boulez sat in the first row of the loose assemblage of chairs.

We rode the elevator down with three of the musicians. The harpist fingered her program. "I want to keep it from being wrinkled," she said. Looking closer, she noted that the piece they played was the longest of the three presented, then remarked, "The second piece was composed the year I was born." The mandolin player looked at the program. "Nineteen eighty-five," he mused. "Is that possible?" Posted by eku at February 9, 2004 9:55 PM