Pierre Boulez on Grammy night

Pierre Boulez on Grammy night

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norman lebrecht

December 26, 2014

Masterworks producer Thomas Z. Sheppard has posted this triumphant scene from 1973, when he celebrated Album of the Year for their recording of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra with a sprightly PB, then chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic. It was the pair’s second album of the year; they first won in 1967 for Wozzeck.

Tom writes: ‘He was fun to be with; he was always fully prepared, he had great patience, and the orchestra responded to him magnificently.’

Pierre, 89, is too frail to attend the 2015 Grammys. We hope the pic brings him pleasure.

boulez sheppard

Comments

  • Will Moseng says:

    A pleasure to be reminded Of this extraordinary maestro, saddened to hear of his condition.

  • Daniel Farber says:

    PB seemed always to be the youngest person in the room. Shocking to hear the word, “frail,” used in the same sentence with him. I knew he was losing his eyesight but not that he was generally impaired. As a conductor, he was in many ways the successor to Klemperer–both “immoralists” to the core, both restlessly seeking new solutions. As a composer, the most consistently provocative of the post-Webern era. 2014: Abbado dead, Boulez frail. The dwarfs continue to rise and thrive.

  • Hanna Lachert says:

    2014 :
    Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, LORIN MAAZEL, Jerzy Semkow, sadly all gone

  • Tassilo says:

    I would like to know how Daniel Farber was acquainted with Mr. Boulez so that I can quote him in an article on Boulez that I am writing for publication. Mr. Farber, please contact me at tassilo.david at yahoo dot com. Thank you!

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