In his early days, he was the enfant terrible who railed against tradition and even called for the violent destruction of the opera houses. Later, he grew into a revered conductor of Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartók, and even Bruckner. He was music director of the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain – a group he founded – and guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and many others.

Today is the birthday of Pierre Boulez. Boulez would have been 95 today. He died in 2016.

Here is one of his most famous works, “Le Marteau sans Maître” – “The Hammer without a Master” – settings of surrealist poems by René Char, perhaps most easily digested in live performance. You’ll find translations of the texts posted beneath the video:

Boulez on Boulez:

Boulez conducts Bruckner:

PHOTO: The Hammer finds its Master