In March last year I was invited to study conducting (along with 3 others) under Pierre Boulez at the Luzern festival for a week in August.
Boulez, is without doubt a phenomenal individual. Much of what the Luzern festival is, especially the Luzern Festival Academy, is because of him. There a few musicians of the 20th Century that one could call 'genius' but Boulez must number amongst them (as possibly does his teacher, Messiaen). Whether you appreciate his compositions or not is not the factor which I feel makes Boulez great (as an aside, if you dont 'like' Boulez then try listening to his Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna: 1974-75). It is his persona and understanding which makes him iconic. He was seen as a revolutionary in Paris when he was young, but he made the world stand up and listen and as result IRCAM and EIC now exist and new music is what it is today because of him. You only had to be in the hall at Luzern to see his effect, when he entered, on the 100 strong orchestra, fresh from the conservatoires of the world, to see that he will be loved by the generations of today and tomorrow, once he is gone.
His teaching has a very 'fatherly' approach. When he criticised what we did, which was most of the time, he always did it with a smile on his face. It was certainly constructive, yet after the first session with him, when he stopped you, you knew what he was going to say, yet he always found a different way of expressing it. He may have been seen as brash and big headed when he was younger, but now, in his teaching role at Luzern, it is as if he sees his one duty to the world is to shape and enthuse the musicians of the future about new music. He has criticised the past, moulded the present and now he has turned to the future to resolve the problem of new music education of the young.
It's true to say that he has a pretty easy audience, all the orchestra and conductors have applied to this course, and been selected from many, to work with Boulez and the EIC coaches on a heavily 20th Century programme. Boulez, has a conducting style that is small. It is not restrained. He feels the orchestra gives what it gives, it is his duty to correct and ensure that the orchestra plays as one. He is certainly no Dudamel in his actions, yet the quantity of energy that comes from the podium is easily as much. He stands there. Every movement his body makes is as concentrated and distilled as it could be, and so each movement delivers its maximum effect. He has the benefit of 80 years of experience but when he is on the podium he ensures that it is the composer who is central to the work.
It was certainly a life changing experience, mainly because of Boulez, but also from the insight of the analysis sessions with Theo Hirsbrunner, and the setting of the academy and the nature of the festival itself. However what was so beneficial was the group of conductors working on the Rite of Spring, Symphonies of Wind instruments and Concertino. Eva Fyodor, Pablo Herras Casado, Geoffery Patterson and myself were able to discuss openly our styles of conducting and the problems we saw with the conducting styles of our fellow participants, as well as offering maximum support to each other all the time.
One should always only speak as they find, a motto I think more of the music world could do well to adopt, and for me Boulez is a confident yet supportive, generous and understanding master of what he does.
www.lucernefestival.ch
Posts
