Pierre Boulez receives the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the Venice Biennale.

The director of the music sector, Ivan Fedele, stated:

“This is a recognition of the absolute value of an artist who has lived through the history of contemporary music, offering the entire world compositions that, in the opinion of musicologists and artists from around the world, are true masterpieces of modernity.

The Maestro’s work has also expressed itself in the theoretical field with exemplary books that have served as a guide and model for generations of young composers. Furthermore, as a conductor, Boulez has offered interpretations of the classical and contemporary repertoire that are now considered milestones.”

Congratulations maestro!

Read more on the Biennale website

For the first issue of our new newsletter Musikblätter, Pierre Boulez spoke to Universal Edition about his own music.

“Sometimes you discover yourself”

Happy Birthday Pierre Boulez!

We’re off to the Konzerthaus in Vienna tonight for the latest concert in Klangforum Wien’s IKONEN series.

Under the title Vexations, Klangforum presents a rich programme of UE works:

Pierre Boulez: Mémoriale | ( ... explosante-fixe ... Originel)
Morton Feldman: Instruments 2
Beat Furrer: Time out 1 and 2
Friedrich Cerha: Bruchstück, geträumt

as well as Olga Neuwirth’s ... miramondo multiplo ...

Jean Deroyer conducts, Eva Furrer and Anders Nyqvist are the soloists.

Before we disappear amongst the Christmas wrapping, here are a few tips for your listening pleasure over the holidays.

Pierre Boulez’ Notations are on Radio SWR2 tonight (Friday) at 8pm German time.

David Sawer’s Stramm Gedichte will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 tomorrow (Saturday) at 9:45pm London time.

Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat is sung by the NDR choir tomorrow (Saturday 24th) at 7pm German time on Radio NDR Kultur.

Once the new year kicks off, listen to the Arditti Quartet performing Vykintas Baltakas’ string quartet b(ell tree) on SWR2 on Wednesday 4th January at 11pm German time.

French speakers might like to listen to France Culture’s Villes Mondes Vienne episode, which was first broadcast on 13th November and contains an interview with Friedrich Cerha.

Merry Christmas!

Following hot on the heels of Tom Service’s article in the Guardian, Guy Dammann’s profile of Pierre Boulez appears in this week’s Economist, giving readers a concise overview of the composer and conductor.

Guy Dammann’s blog is here.

“A sensual musical bath of sonorous reverberation and exotic resonance, music that shimmers and glints with a seductive play of instrumental timbres”

Tom Service on Pierre Boulez’ Sur Incises in today’s Guardian

In the same article, Gillian Moore, the Southbank Centre’s head of contemporary culture, asks if Boulez’ Pli selon Pli is “greatest orchestral work of the past 50 years”.

The Southbank Centre’s Exquisite Labyrinth: The Music of Pierre Boulez, takes place from Friday 30 Sept to Sunday 2 Oct.

From the web today, part 1

“Noten für Roger Federer”
A slide show of a tennis match between Federer and Djokovic complete with Arnold Schönberg’s tennis notation (from the Zurich Tages-Anzeiger, with thanks to @alexrossmusic for the tip).

From the web today, part 2

Pierre Boulez: “Ce qui m’intéresse, c’est la pointe de l’invention”
Read the full interview in Le Monde (with thanks to @iIRCAM for the tip).

The Vienna Philharmonic opens its 2011 Salzburg Festival residency tonight with a concert of music by Alban Berg and Gustav Mahler.

Pierre Boulez conducts and is joined by Anna Prohaska, Dorothea Röschmann, Anna Larsson and Johan Botha.

Alban Berg: Lulu Suite
Alban Berg: Der Wein
Gustav Mahler: Das klagende Lied

The concert will be broadcast on Sunday 7 August at 11am on ORF OE1 Radio.

Watch Pierre Boulez talking to UE about the music of Gustav Mahler

Watch on YouTube

Peter Eötvös conducts the London Sinfonietta at the Aldeburgh Festival tomorrow.

On the programme is Pierre Boulez’ … explosante-fixe …, alongside works by Marco Stroppa and Peter Eötvös himself.

Cologne’s ‘new’ new music festival Acht Brücken (Eight Bridges) starts this weekend, and is dedicated to the music of Pierre Boulez.

Boulez himself conducts the opening concert, with works by Ravel, Schönberg and Stravinsky.

Further highlights of the festival include performances of Le Marteau sans maître and sur Incises with Ensemble intercontemporain; Répons, performed by the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble with Reinbert de Leeuw; and the grand finale concert with MusikFabrik conducted by Pascal Rophé, where Pli selon pli will be heard.

We've just heard from Paul Griffiths about a fascinating new film about the music of the 20th century.

Read the full details here.

We’ve just received the new book by Jonathan Goldman: The Musical Language of Pierre Boulez – part of the Cambridge University Press “Music Since 1900” series.

From the jacket:

“Pierre Boulez is arguably the most influential composer of the second half of the twentieth century. Here, Jonathan Goldman provides a fresh appraisal of the composer's music, demonstrating how understanding the evolution of Boulez's ideas on musical form is an important step towards evaluating his musical thought generally.”

You can read the preface and a large part of the introduction at the Cambridge University Press website.

Order online at Amazon, Cambridge University Press or others.