The central part of Orientations - the collected writings of Pierre Boulez is based on Boulez's mostly short texts about composers whom he considered relevant for his oeuvre and contemplations of music. In addition to other texts, in the part of the book entitled "Examples", Boulez wrote three chapters on the composer Gustav Mahler. Besides Orientations, Boules often spoke about Mahler in his interviews and at lectures he gave. His idea of Mahler was in fact the idea of the beginnings of contemporary music. Considering Boulez's sharp sentences, we come across a wealthy network of judgments about Mahler and his wide influence on twentieth-century music, and we acquire a better understanding of Mahler, who, according to Boulez's statements, could be understood only from the perspective of contemporary music.