François Meïmoun's Study on Boulez's Early Years Critiqued

François Meïmoun's book "Entretien avec Pierre Boulez : François Meïmoun" (Éditions Aedam Musicae) examines Boulez's career before 1945, when he won a first prize in harmony in Olivier Messiaen's class. Meïmoun, working from a musicology thesis, presents unpublished works including melodies on poems by Baudelaire, Gautier, and Rilke, and piano pieces like a Psalmodie with a Gide epigraph. He traces the transformation of scores that fostered Boulez's post-war emergence. However, the review criticizes Meïmoun's handling of historical context (Occupation, Collaboration) and his claim that Boulez chose Messiaen as a model because he was "shunned by Vichy commissions." In fact, Messiaen was appointed harmony professor at the Conservatoire de Paris in April 1941 after returning from Stalag and participated regularly in Parisian musical life. The interview with Boulez is deemed unproductive, with offhand remarks on Leibowitz, Gide, Picasso, and Sartre hindering musicological consideration. The review concludes the sketch shows promise but needs more rigor.