William Buchman Remembers Pierre Boulez

Assistant Principal Bassoon William Buchman remembers the joy of working with Pierre Boulez (1925–2016) in honor of his centennial. 

When I think back to the time when the orchestra was working regularly with Pierre Boulez, I recognize how fortunate we were to have him as part of our musical family. A seasoned conductor and composer with a brilliant mind and an infallible ear, he was no longer the brash avant-gardist of his youth but more of a jovial uncle bringing us musicians exotic gifts from far away.    

Under his baton, the orchestra learned — and frequently recorded — rare large scale works by Bartók, Messiaen, Schoenberg and Stravinsky, many which have not been performed by the orchestra since. He also brought freshness to beloved symphonies by Bruckner and Mahler, stripping away decades of interpretive excess to reveal the works as conceived by the composers in their detailed annotations to the score. 

Though he held us to the highest standards of precision and clarity, Maestro Boulez led rehearsals with a sense of humor that made the hard work less arduous. He would delight in mistakes that were “deliciously wrong” or “anything but right,” his accented words chastising but with charm and graciousness. 

During the transitional years between music directors, he provided reassuring continuity and stewardship, helping the orchestra fill vacant violin (Ni Mei, Aiko Noda) and percussion (Cynthia Yeh) positions.   

Though he has been gone these many years, he lives on in the many recordings he made with us and in the hearts of those of us who worked with him. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, we celebrate his legacy and his devotion to the CSO and remember him with great fondness.