organized delirium

Boulez's own phrase describing his compositional approach in the Piano Sonata No. 1 and early works. Serial organisation provides the rational framework; the character that emerges — violent, fragmented, unpredictable in texture and attack — is the controlled delirium.

The Piano Sonata No. 1 marks an extraordinary range of attack: incisif, très léger, très brutal, très sec, très violent. These are not interpretive suggestions — they are notated instructions. Each attack type must be physically distinct. The organised/delirious duality is not a contradiction to smooth over.