Why Boulez Rules The World

Is it odd that Pierre Boulez has gone from being a subversive on the outside to a revered elder statesman? “His 80th birthday this year is being celebrated by Deutsche Grammophon with new recordings and reissues of his own works. He’s the only modernist, living or dead, whose music is widely available on a major label. Critics love that. Here he is, at the tippy-tippy top, and he hasn’t compromised. We will never see “The Pierre Boulez Tango Album.” We’re talking about a guy whose idea of slumming is hearing Richard Strauss’ symbolism-laden opera Die Frau ohne Schatten.”