Boris Blacher was one of the central figures in Berlin musical life after the 2nd World War * Important as a composer of vivid stage and orchestral works and as a teacher * Music noted for its colourful French-inspired instrumentation and its irreverence towards Austro-German tradition * Experimented with 'variable metrics' in works like Piano Concerto No.2, where serial procedures are applied to metrical units * Many stageworks based on classic texts including ballets Hamlet, Lysistrata, Der Mohr von Venedig and Tristan*Paganini Variations is a repertoire piece in German orchestral world and has been recently recorded by Solti * Blacher's pupils included Klebe, Einem, Erbse, Burt, Reimann, Yun and Klaus Huber
"Blacher summed up the reaction of sensitive Germans after the war against pathos, bombast, inflated emotion... [His music] has something of the bracing Berlin climate and something of the city's humour." — Financial Times
