Interview with Pierre Boulez and Elliott Carter (13/05/1984)

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

Boulez as such an affable, vivacious, clever, witty, good-humored man. I think it would be difficult not to like him.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

That should be “was”, not “as”. I’m perpetually fighting my IPad’s AS and perpetually losing.

[@JoelWaterman76]

At the beginning of the interview Boulez says “oh my god 1944, that’s 40 years ago”… and now we can say “oh my god this interview was 40 years ago” 🤯

[@UtsyoChakraborty]

14:40 Boulez's comments on Renga - hilarious!

[@ilirllukaci5345]

Thanks.

[@mrtchaikovsky]

The piece by Villa Lobos mentioned at 14:09 reminds me of his "New York City Skyline", which has a melody that is basically the outline of the skyline in question transcribed in musical notation. Maybe Boulez misremembered, or Villa did compose a piece using the same method, but taking the shape of some mountains instead.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

I suppose from a topographical point of view there isn’t much difference. Mountains and skyscrapers, hills and houses are all merely protuberances. Topography doesn’t care that some are supposed natural and others artificial (“woman-made”). According to E.B. White, what we call pigeons are really “rock doves”, evolved to hang out on mountains. Driven from their natural habitats, they found modern cities quite suitable replacements

[@menschikle]

quite interesting...

[@nonretrogradable]

Where is the rest of this?? Wonderful to hear and both at the height of their powers here

[@Twentythousandlps]

The interviewer is Ernest Fleischmann.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

And what do we know about this guy?

[@Twentythousandlps]

Look him up.@@jeffryphillipsburns

[@Twentythousandlps]

@@jeffryphillipsburns Look him up.

[@UtsyoChakraborty]

@@jeffryphillipsburns He was the General Manager of the LA Philharmonic.

[@yagiz885]

3:04 I knew I wasn't wrong.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

How so?

[@mrtchaikovsky]

What was that sound at 12:19?

[@UtsyoChakraborty]

Some kind of Windows notification.

[@mrtchaikovsky]

@@UtsyoChakraborty In 1984?!

[@SomeRandomNameOrOther]

@@mrtchaikovsky No, in 2022.

[@jeffryphillipsburns]

@@mrtchaikovsky Maybe it was a DOS notification. (Bill Gates, we may remember, made his initial fortune from DOS, speaking of DOS. He did this by acquiring the source code for CP/M, Control Program for Microcomputers, widely used at the time for “desktops” such as the Kaypro II. He copied without permission this source code in such a way that it would work-when it wasn’t glitching, as it often was-with IBM’s belated foray into the microcomputer market with the PC-AT and XT. Apple successfully sued Microsoft for stealing their MacIntosh GUI with Windows, Microsoft paying back just a tiny portion of the wealth it accumulated from the theft.)