Pierre Boulez

            Pierre Boulez is a French composer, conductor, and pianist.  After first studying mathematics, Boulez began his study of music at the Paris Conservatoire under Olivier Messiaen, from whom he learned the twelve-tone technique.

            The twelve-tone technique is a technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg that ensures that all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are found in equal number throughout a piece, with no emphasis on any one note.  Because all notes are given equal importance, music written using the twelve-tone technique is not considered to be in any certain key.

            Boulez became fascinated by the twelve-tone technique, and went on to study it privately under Rene Leibowitz.  As Boulez progressed in his career, he became one of the front-runners of a musical style known as serialism – a style based primarily on the twelve-tone technique.  In serialism, recurring musical elements are employed to give a piece of music unity.  A prime example of this technique can be found in Boulez’s “Anthemes”, which can be listened to here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JABBQmtLWRo

            Typical of the serialist style, the piece cannot be placed in a key, but rather exhibits unpredictability with no stress on any particular note or notes.  While the piece is rather chaotic, there still seems to be a certain melody that can be followed, however seemingly random.  It is interesting to note that while the notes don’t seem to “go together”, it is almost this aspect that makes them fit so seamlessly together.  In a sense, it’s almost as if the piece is so bad, it’s good.  While this style of music is obviously unconventional and may not suit every listener, Boulez does an excellent job of knitting together seemingly incompatible notes.