Japanese culture is rich with traditional rituals, even in daily life. This piece is a celebration of the life of my mentor, Pierre Boulez, and was commissioned in 2025 for the 100th anniversary of his birth.
My assignment was to write a companion piece, to pair with Boulez’s masterpiece “Répons”. When the commissioners reached out during a Zoom meeting, I stated, ”I don’t know what I want to do with this piece yet, but I’ll do everything opposite to what Mr. Boulez (I always referred to him as that) has done before — and would do today!”
After some laughter on the other end of the call, I was relieved to hear them say, “anti-Boulez? We love it!”
The electronics you will hear were created at IRCAM, where our catchphrase quickly became: ”Does it sound anti-Boulez?”
We had a lot of fun with that.
As I reflect, “Répons” is a perfect composition to me — perhaps my favorite piece of all time. It needs no “introduction” from me.
“Ritual” is precious to me — it serves as a memorial, a recollection of all the wonderful times I had with Mr. Boulez. We exchanged many letters and had countless, life changing, face-to-face conversations over the years.
He, of course, wrote his own “Rituel” (for Bruno Maderna), a piece that sounds very Japanese to me — with gongs and a touch of Zen meditation. I always thought of it as, “Zen through the lens of an impatient Frenchman.” I adored this about him.
Since I never wrote a memorial piece when he passed, now feels like the perfect time to do so.
Here is my dedication to you, Mr. Boulez.
Dai Fujikura (edited by Joseph Ehrenpreis)