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Perhaps even this master-composer has not produced a more fantastically virtuoso orchestral score than Figures 鈥� Doubles 鈥� Prismes. Pierre Boulez鈥檚 music has always been remarkable for its (very French) way of combining an ultra-sophisticated technical apparatus with a beguiling ear for sound. Since its premiere in Paris in 1958, this piece has been repeatedly revised, refined and extended.

Performances of this work have a large orchestra subdivided into three separate mini orchestras placed left, centre and right. All three orchestras are guided by a single conductor on a platform at the front of the stage. The title conveys how a Boulezian musical design typically unfolds: an idea (figure) is presented, instantly setting up its own possibilities of variations (double), and of intricate harmonic extension and refraction (prisme).

In Berlioz鈥檚 own words: 鈥淔igures refers to simple elements, sharply characterised by dynamics, violence, softness, slowness, and so forth. These elements can be purely harmonic, or more rhythmically oriented, or purely melodic. They are not themes in the conventional way, but 鈥榮tates鈥� of music being.鈥�