Collected here, in some 500 pages, is perhaps the most
comprehensive and provocative statement of an aesthetic position
mustered by a musician since Schoenberg.
*New Statesman*
Boulez is one of the most controversial and enigmatic personalities
on the contemporary music scene. He is also a wonderfully
intelligent writer, as this important collection of essays amply
demonstrates. The book is divided into three parts. ‘The Shaping
Imagination’ deals with questions of aesthetics and includes cogent
analyses of some of Boulez’s own music. ‘Exemplars’ contains short
sketches on composers and their music that Boulez finds
worthwhile—from Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique to the works of
Messiaen. The short third section, ‘Looking Back,’ contains
tributes and brief essays of a more general nature. Though much of
the writing is technical, the lay reader will still derive great
pleasure from Boulez’s lucid prose and articulate sentiments.
Highly recommended.
*Library Journal*
Boulez is (arguably) the laureate of post-war European contemporary
music, and his public utterances are part of the permanent record
of this era. Orientations…is thus de facto an indispensable text.
Moreover, the organization of the volume carefully and admirably
disentangles the various strands of Boulez’s exemplary career.
*College Music Symposium*
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