People talking about the French composer Pierre Boulez tend to wear out the word iconoclast pretty quickly. To celebrate the “High Priest of Modernism” on the occasion of his centenary, The Music Show looks beyond Boulez’s clockwork reputation to the sensuality and emotion of his music and his kind, collegiate relationship with other musicians. Authors Edward Campbell and Caroline Potter, pianist Paavali Jumppanen and archive from the man himself bear witness to Boulez’s complex and beautiful legacy.

Caroline Potter is the author of Pierre Boulez: Organised Delirium, published by Boydell.

Edward Campbell is the editor of the forthcoming Boulez in Context and several other Boulez books published by Cambridge University Press.

Paavali Jumppanen performs as part of ANAM’s Boulez Rules! at Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne on Friday 11 April. 

Listen to David Robertson talk to Andy about Boulez the conductor from The Music Show's archives.

Technical production by Simon Branthwaite

The Music Show is made on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country