Pierre Boulez wrote Derive in 1984. It is a six-minute chamber work for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, vibraphone, and piano which was spun out of sketches for a larger work from 1981, entitled Répons. During the 1980s, the composer was busy conducting, running IRCAM in Paris, and was involved in innumerable other projects. Many of his listeners were concerned that he had foregone composition due to time constraints, which made the appearance of Derive a cause for relief and many hearings accompanied by an equal amount of discussion. Though his earlier chamber works had never been thought of as raw, this new piece took the Boulez catalog into new levels of cerebral nuance hitherto unknown in music. Though his output remained small during his long and diverse career, the quality of output never flagged in quality or originality. Nor did he fall into the trap of repeating himself. While his works from the 1940s revealed a beauty that many skeptics doubted could be achieved in serialism, Boulez's works from the 1980s draw further from the same sort of sound, but with a different syntax, which also draws tones from a series of notes, but in a more sophisticated manner. When he came on the scene with the end of World War II, his music had a much less abrupt effect on musical circles than did his personality. There was no doubt that he was an important young composer, obviously a significant genius, who wrote music that took Schoenberg's rejection of "animal warmth" into new levels of cool and ethereal which conversely fired the imagination. It was Webern-made-cosmopolitan, featuring a fluidity more easily grasped than the Viennese master's acerbic palindromes. When Boulez went on to attack the music world for its comfort-clenching resistance to new ideas and works, his compositions made it impossible for the public to dismiss his objections. Being a world-class conductor enforced this state of affairs. Though his output remained small, it was indicative of a constant probing of new methods. That is why Derive came as a shock and a revelation; it brought to mind works that he had published in his twenties, and with a new level of refinement that no one could have imagined possible.

Compared to his 1946 masterwork Sonatine, Derive is the same style put through a metamorphosis; Sonatine is a caterpillar to Derive's butterfly. Its color combinations are breathtaking, and every element of the music seems to be working like a kaleidoscope of rotating proportions and emphasis. In terms of craft, it may be peerless. These things, however impressive, are not what make the music great. People expect perfection from Boulez; he provided perfect craft in all musical things ever since his career started, and those acquainted with his work simply got used to it. This does not allow for a great deal of cultural dialogue, because it is difficult to enjoy the exchange of ideas when one side of the discussion is never wrong; challenging Boulez was like challenging music itself, or enough so that it became a rare thing to do. It never occurred to anyone that Boulez would create music that could top his early creations, which were already considered enduring and sublime. The public simply expected more product, when the composer found the time to write. Like Webern, his output was on a constant level of quality. This is not to say that Derive is better than his early works, but rather it exposes levels to music that he had not already considered. It is comparatively sparkly, more approachable, and warmer.

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