“Boulez fought harder than anyone for the cause of contemporary music, and even those who received his barbs benefitted in one way or another from his energy. No composer of the past hundred years achieved such worldly power: in Paris, IRCAM, the Cité de la Musique, and the new Philharmonie stand as his monuments. In more than one way, he resembled Wagner. He forced you to take sides; his rage was clarifying.”