Pierre Boulez – the French composer, conductor and theorist who so powerfully influenced the world's musical life in the second half of the 20th century – turned 90 on March 26th 2015. For more than 60 years he has exemplified the spirit of Modernism in music.

This 14-CD anthology comprises recordings Boulez conducted for the Erato label between 1966 and 1992. Exploring the diverse aesthetic strands of his programming, it makes a distinctive survey of music in the 20th century. The repertoire ranges from two founding masters of Modernism – Stravinsky and Schoenberg – through Boulez's teacher, Messiaen, and the American Elliott Carter (born 17 years before Boulez) to composers of Boulez's own generation – Berio, Ligeti, Xenakis and Kurtág – and composers of the generation that followed him, such as Hugues Dufourt, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey and York Höller. The three CDs of Boulez's own music contain some of his most celebrated works, including Pli selon pli, Le Visage nuptial and Le Soleil des eaux – all works for solo female voice and instruments.

Music by Xenakis, Donatoni, Grisey, Dufourt, Ferneyhough, Harvey and Höller does not feature elsewhere in Boulez's extensive discography, while his interpretation of Stravinsky's incantatory Les Soucoupes, in the version for female voices and four horns, has never before appeared on CD.