Total Immersion: Pierre Boulez - The Second Piano Sonata

Pierre Boulez made art without compromise. 'History as it is made by great composers is not a history of conservation, but of destruction - even while cherishing what is destroyed', he wrote, and in his explosive Second Piano Sonata of 1947-8 he set out to blast a path forward through the ruins of the western tradition. Few experiences in 20th century piano music are more visceral – or more bracing. And we’ll hear Boulez explore the clarinet and the amazing things it can do in Domaines (1961) and Dialogue de l’ombre double for clarinet and tape (1985) – written 24 years later. 

Don’t be misled: this is music that’s small only in the physical sense; a thrilling reminder that as well as being a radical chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boulez was a creator who split the musical atom - and revelled in the energy it released.