Pierre Boulez completed his Messagesquisse in 1977. It is scored for solo cello and six accompanying cellos, eight and a half minutes in duration, and in four movements. At first, this work does not resemble a work by Boulez. The opening is an extremely quiet and static opening chord, quite unlike his other pieces, which find their beauty through the composer's language in motion. It was the composer Morton Feldman who distinguished between composers who focused on the sounds themselves, as he did, as opposed to those who concentrated on the musical language in operation, such as Boulez. Messagesquisse contains many aspects that are a departure for the composer. Boulez is the most poetic post-serialist of the twentieth century, and this work contains levels of open, almost rustic pizzicato melodies. Its deceptive simplicity suggests Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet. The limitations of what notes were to be used no doubt contributed to this effect. Messagesquisse was intended as part of a collection of pieces by different composers to celebrate the seventieth birthday of the famed benefactor of many avant-garde artists, Paul Sacher. In a combination of the German and French notational systems, the man's name can be spelled out in a cipher containing the notes E flat, A, C, B, E natural, and D. There are many codes in operation in Messagesquisse, including the title. It is a portmanteau word combining "messages" and "esquisse," which means "sketch" in English. Thus the work is a set of messages in code, or sketches, set out to communicate his friendship with Sacher. Boulez has dealt with this sort of imposed limitation before. In his earlier works Ritual and Répons, similar ciphers were at the core of the work. However, in the past, Boulez has never answered to this challenge in quite this way. He has always been accurately associated with sophistication that does not disguise itself. Stravinsky's early ballets, for example, enjoyed an accrued and carefully controlled rough edge. Crumb's work has a pastoral quality. Boulez is urban and clearly rigorous yet fluid, but parts of Messagesquisse reveal a unique emphasis for the composer. The static moments have a quietly ecstatic inner world that is not normally part of his predominant coolness. It is not known why the work is the way it is, but it reveals a transparent passion perhaps for the only time in his career.

The composer's professional life is that of a prized composer and conductor, loved by his native France like a national treasure. Throughout the world, any lack of enthusiasm towards his composing or performing is equaled with an unqualified respect for the man who has dedicated his life to new music. No one can question his musicianship or integrity. No debate regarding the avant-garde in the second half of the twentieth century can exclude him without risking irrelevancy. His cool exterior is the first personality trait that is equally in evidence in his music. Ever since he published his remarkable Sonatine for flute and piano in his early twenties, his music and manner has maintained an unruffled dignity now as familiar as his face. Boulez's career did not change musical culture, but he did make an impression on it, erecting a universally accepted standard of professionalism. His music will remain an important part of the Western canon, as a vital voice, yet he was not one to let himself go, either in his demeanor or his musical writing. In Messagesquisse there is something in his work that concerned listeners have awaited: a heart that seems to sound out in spite of itself.

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