MiM quiz – Expert level / Education

Pierre Boulez was once asked to write a piece for an album of modern compositions for piano learners. He did comply with the request and the piece was published on the album, but Une page d’éphéméride is a very demanding composition technically – in any case Boulez himself admitted that he seemed to be unable to write anything simpler.

Kazimierz Serocki’s The Gnomes, a collection of pieces for young pianists, became very popular and was even arranged in various transcriptions for other instruments.

In Louis Andriessen’s Dancing on the Bones, a piece the composer described as a “diabolical scherzo”, a children’s choir sings about what happens to the body after death.

Arvo Pärt’s “children’s” works were issued on the Songs from Childhood album.

Read more about his Music for Children.

Arvo Pärt studied composition in Tallinn with e.g. Veljo Tormis, a composer known primarily for his choral compositions.

The eminent Italian composer Luciano Berio was young Louis Andriessen’s composition professor in 1962–1964.

In the same period, also in Paris, Olivier Messiaen conducted his famous analysis class – his broad horizons, unconventional interests and openness attracted many composers, including Pierre Boulez, who several years later became leading figures of the European avant-garde.

Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) was a teacher of many outstanding composers, including Kazimierz Serocki, who in 1947–1948 explored the secrets of composing under her guidance thanks to a scholarship he had been granted.

The conductor Reinbert de Leeuw, together with the Dutch ensembles Schönberg Ensemble and Asko Ensemble (now combined into one Asko/Schönberg Ensemble) performed and premiered many of Louis Andriessen’s works.

Maurizio Pollini is a brilliant interpreter of Pierre Boulez’s piano sonatas, especially No. 2, which he believes is a milestone in the repertoire for the instrument on a par with Beethoven’s sonatas.

Gidon Kremer is a great advocate of Arvo Pärt’s music – at his request the composer wrote Tabula Rasa; Kremer was also the first performer of Fratres in the version for violin and piano.

Les Percussions de Strasbourg premiered Kazimierz Serocki’s percussion sextet Continuum.