Since the 1940s, when he studied with Messiaen and learned the twelve-tone technique from René Leibowitz he has been at the center of the French musical avant-garde.

For this In Rehearsal program, Boulez was filmed working with the Vienna Philharmonic on Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra Op. 6 and his own composition Notations I-IV at the twentieth-century music against the resplendent backdrop of Vienna's Grossermusikvereinsaal with its glittering chandeliers and golden pillars.

With one of the world's top orchestras under his baton, Boulez runs through each of the segments which make up the two pieces and then fine-tunes the interpretation.