A demanding heir --------------------
Heir to Arnold Schönberg, the creator of serial music, in which the fundamental element is a series of twelve tones associated with the notes of the tempered scale (C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B) and numbered from 0 to 11 — numbers subjected to genuine transformations, permutations, translations and reflections — Pierre Boulez would keep a trace of his mathematical studies in his music. He whom his friends sometimes called an "algebraic composer" would make serialism an essential principle of musical creation. His theories would take on their full meaning with computer-assisted musical composition.
Throughout his life, he rose to the challenge of composing, playing and having the music of his century played. In total rupture with classical harmony, he remained throughout his career a fervent disciple of the Second Viennese School (the first being that of Mozart and Haydn) — that of Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. His rigour and exacting standards have few equals in the world of composition.

Third Piano Sonata, Boulez's music in colour: in green, the Points; in red, the Blocks. Points and Blocks are played in alternation, at the whim of the performer's imagination.