내가 하고 싶은 말을 불레즈옹이 다 해주셨기에 인터뷰를 그대로 옮겨보고자 한다.
Claude Samuel : Might one say - and we shall end with this subject - that, for you, recording is a plus and a minus? A plus because it is a testimony, a minus because that can be a sort of unavoidable reference: It's like this and it must not be otherwise!
Pierre Boulez : What annoys me is when one distributes points. In the past, no longer nowadays, I listened to radio broadcasts that always wanted to make comparisons, wanted to award No.1, No.2, No.3... There's nothing more artificial than that because one performer can have very good sides and be completely off base elsewhere in relation to the original text; another recording will perhaps be less brilliant but closer to what the composer wanted to say. It depends on how you listen to the thing, too. What do you want to hear in a work? Do you want to hear what you yourself think, and it does not always coincide with what you hear? That does not prove that you are right, nor does it prove that the performer is wrong. It simply means that you do not coincide with this way of interpreting, full stop. That is why I do not admit comparisons of this type, starting from a certain level, of course. But when you have a top-notch level, rankings are absurd.
CS : I have one final question: What do you expect of the listener? You have an enlightened music lover who has this set of discs in hand; what approach do you advise, what do you expect of him?
PB : First of all, to rid himself of prejudices if he has any. And that he listen with an open mind, quite simply. That he begin with the simplest things and end with the most complex. In someone's oeuvre, there are always simpler works, more direct and open, and then more complex, more difficult works. Even in Beethoven, if you listen to the early string quartets, it's very easy to swallow. If you listen to the last, it takes much more concentrated attention. There, they know - it's a share of culture. They have to acquire this culture in modernity. Let them first acquire it by patience, because it is not always easy, so it is necessary to listen again, and especially listen again saying to oneself, no, I'm not wrong, but I can be wrong. For me, that is the true attitude.