I think Mr Boulez was a significant contributor of 20th/21st century serial music and a key innovator. But like with many composers throughout time, many factors will determine how great one composer will be recognized as such. I think in all honesty, it is too early to tell.

I do think he was a very good conductor, however.

 

He was a very intelligent and clever composer with a fine ear for instrumentation.

 

The instrumentation here is quite colorful

 

I wanted to vote Yes a capable composer.

 

Too soon, man. Too soon.

 

I voted "Who cares", as usual, seeing as I disagree with this whole "great" business. I don't care for his music myself, but I acknowledge that enough of the right people like his music to warrant the casual use of the phrase "great composer".

 

Yes...get used to it !:scold:

 

It's far too early to say whether Boulez was a great composer. He certainly arose at a time of uncommon dearth of musical creativity and appeared by his expressed views to want to banish any kind of harmonic pleasantness from music. Even moderns who disagreed with him and his methods were attacked. A lot of it was the emperor's new clothes syndrome, where people had to fall in line with a perceived musical (or anti-musical depending on your point of view) correctness.
I myself have never liked what I have heard of Boulez's music any more than I agree with his reported daft political views. Of course, it may be that in generations to come his music is regarded as great and 'reactionaries' like me (and Stravinsky) will be disregarded. But only time will tell.

 

He certainly arose at a time of uncommon dearth of musical creativity and appeared by his expressed views to want to banish any kind of harmonic pleasantness from music.

Erm, where did he express those views?

 

If his work wasn't any good we'd have forgotten it by now.
Repons
PLi sleon pli
Le marteau sans maitre
Eclat

All good stuff

 

I have been hesitant to say anything since I have been unable to connect with this thread.

Even though I do not like Boulez it seems to me he is still a great composer. For me the "Too early to assess" choice puzzling. I go along with Couac Addict that if his work was not any good we'd have forgotten it by now. I remember hearing Le marteau sans maître when I was in high school fifty years ago.

 

Of course Boulez was a great composer, his work speaks for itself. Anyone who thinks otherwise has lousy taste in music.

Booyah!

 

My musical taste includes Monteverdi, Tallis, Palestrina, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Verdi, Schumann, Schubert, Rachmaninov, Puccini, Debussy, Prokofiev

I'm assuming by your reckoning these are all lousy composers?

 

Would it be possible to not use the man's death as an excuse to get into all the old arguments again? Just out of respect for the man at the very least?

 

This, times infinity...

 

My question I would like to ask is do you think Mr Boulez was a great composer in the context of 20th/21st century contemporary music overall. It may be a difficult question but one worth thinking about.

I don't need to think about "greatness". It's a useless exercise. But you are most definitely preoccupied with this subject. And if one does not possess a degree in composition, and can't read the scores in order to judge the musical merits or lack there of, one's opinion is worthless.

Pierre Boulez left us a huge body of work to listen to and enjoy by many, many composers, including himself. That's what matters to me.

 

I have played numerous so-called "avant-garde" compositions for various guests, but the only composition I know of that can reliably produce looks of horror and occasionally even physical pain and mental distress is Boulez's 2nd Piano Sonata. If that's not a great composer I don't know what is--the rest of his amazing oeuvre is just gravy as far as I'm concerned.

 

Has anyone here performed Boulez's works? I was wondering if anything can be said from that perspective.

 

I think it can be safely said that at the time of his death he was considered a great composer.

 

Piano Sonata 2 and Marteau alone easily make him one of the best composers of the past century.

 

Ha! I always had exactly the same opinion and exactly with those pieces.

 

I haven't heard most of his works yet and still have trouble getting some of them like Structures and Piano Sonata No. 2 but Répons, Le Marteau, Sur incises and Pli selon pli are really great.

 

I wonder whether it is reasonable for one to be treated in the same way that one once treated others 60 years ago? I'm not an advocate of the idea that a man's warts should be ignored after death, but in estimating whether Boulez was a 'great' composer, his treatment of others needn't figure...need it?

 

I feel relaxed and confident that Boulez's music, like Schoenberg's, will receive judgments in the fullness of time with which we will all, then, agree. If, of course, we're aware of them.

 

I see nothing wrong in assessing a person's legacy after their death. Sorry if it upsets their admirers but as has been pointed out Boulez was not slow to upset people himself with his remarks. The question has been asked whether we consider Boulez a great composer or not, so surely the OP expects answers in the negative as well as the affirmative. The whole thing becomes meaningless if out of some form of misguided 'respect' we do not assess his work honestly.
Personally I myself could never see what the fuss was about Boulez, either his music or his conducting, neither of which I care for. And let's remember, his entire musical output lasts about 12 hours, mainly small scale stuff which is a strictly minority taste, even among classical music buffs. When you compare that with the output of the great composers - Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, et al - or even those we might consider the 'lesser' great composers like Mendelssohn - are we really going to say that Boulez belonged up there with them? Or consider Stravinsky, at least in his earlier incarnation. He wrote music that was considered revolutionary but still kept an audience. To be considered a 'great' composer Boulez's music will surely in the future have to attract a far wider audience (even among classical music fans) than he has up till now.

 

I see nothing wrong in assessing a person's legacy after their death. Sorry if it upsets their admirers but as has been pointed out Boulez was not slow to upset people himself with his remarks. The question has been asked whether we consider Boulez a great composer or not, so surely the OP expects answers in the negative as well as the affirmative.

I don't think anyone has been upset by any of the assessments of his compositional legacy. In fact, there have been hardly any negative posts about his 'greatness' as a composer. I think yours is the first.

 

It's worth noting that at least three of Boulez's cohort - Berio, Nono and Stockhausen - are pretty securely accepted as great composers.

Did Boulez, as a composer, fall short of them in some way? I don't think so, though I can understand how some people might.

 

I doubt those who don't think Boulez is accepted as a great composer would accept those three as being part of the great composer canon.

Heck, they still cast aspersions on the idea that Schoenberg is a great composer, and he's been performed rather consistently for a century now. There's no length of time too long for reactionaries to keep calling for the test of time to prove them right.

 

Edited. Never mind. It's not worth it.

 

I don't think it can be disputed that Boulez must be considered a great composer. He already has been for many years and certainly excelled at what he wanted to do.

A more interesting question would be "Do you enjoy his music?", and the answer to that is "No".

 

Please refrain from comments about others or their posting style. The focus is whether Boulez is a great composer. There's plenty to discuss about Boulez, his greatness, and related matters, but that does not include other members. Several posts were deleted from the thread.

 

Tom Service's introduction to Boulez for those who may not be familiar with his music:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/to...rviceblog/2016/jan/06/pierre-boulez-composer-conductor-10-key-works-tom-service