PIERRE BOULEZ

Celebrating the centenary of the birth of the great composer and music theorist Pierre Boulez on 25 March 2025, we release a re-issue of his complete DG- and Decca-recordings as an 84 CD & 4 Blu-ray Disc Video set, originally released in January 2022. A companion 13-disc set entitled Pierre Boulez: The Composer, originally released in 2013, will be re-released on 28 February. 

“There is a whole generation of us who were completely educated by Boulez.” (Sir Simon Rattle)

A pioneer in every sphere of musical activity and a thinker of profound and penetrating originality, Pierre Boulez was a figure of vast influence and significance from the 1950s until his death in 2016. Regarded as a “national cultural institution” in France during his lifetime he was and continues to be celebrated all over the world as a conductor of outstanding clarity, analytical thinking and absolute precision of execution.

His legacy as a conductor includes many exceptional recordings: his Mahler Symphony cycle, the Chéreau "Bayreuth Centenary Ring " from 1976–1980 and his take on classic 20th century composers from Bartok to Stravinsky to mention just a few. More generally, from his iconoclastic statements on opera, to the highly focused work with his ensembles, Deutsche Grammophon (and Philips before) accompanied him on his journey for more than four decades. We are proud to have documented, in this limited edition 84 CD & 4 Blu-ray Video set, much of his most important work as both composer and conductor (for over 20 years as an exclusive artist with DG).

Boulez is the fifth most-awarded Grammy winner of all time – in 2015, to his TWENTY SIX Grammy Awards, and 67 nominations he added a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy.