At Pierre Boulez’s funeral service: ‘Beauty will save the world’

photo (c) Marion Kalter/Lebrecht Music&Arts

The memorial service for Pierre Boulez in Paris was attended this afternoon by the French prime minister Manuel Valls, the culture minister Fleur Pellerin and others from across the political spectrum.

The musician Daniel Barenboim spoke of Boulez’s legacy as a man of the future interested in many things beyond music.

photo: Suzanne Giroud

Laurent Bayle, president of the Philharmonie de Paris, recalled Boulez’ creative achievements including Boulez’s lifelong disdain for “les invalides de la nostalgie”.  The most moving and evocative homage was delivered ex tempore by the architect Renzo Piano, recalling Boulez’s lifelong search for beauty: “Beauty will save the world.”