Pierre Boulez Conducts Modern Classics (recorded in Koln, 2000)

Conductor Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony tackle three 20th-century works that are the specialty of the orchestra's former music director.

The suite from Alban Berg's unfinished opera, Lulu, is revealed as substantive and compelling. The Soprano Christine Schäfer exquisitely sings sang extracts from her signature role of Lulu and is also featured in Claude Debussy's sublime vocal settings Le Jet d'eau and Trois Ballades de Villon.

Finally, Boulez's forces give Stravinsky's first full-length ballet, The Firebird, an electrifying run-through.

A survey of the music of the century interpreted by one of the greatest representatives of the modern era.