 French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez once declared , " Stockhausen is the greatest living composer , and the only one whom I recognize as my peer " ( Anon . 1967 ; Anon . 1971 ) . Boulez also acknowledged the influence of performing Stockhausen 's Zeitmaße on his subsequent development as a conductor ( Boulez 1976 , 79 – 80 ) . Another French composer , Jean @-@ Claude Éloy , regards Stockhausen as the most important composer of the second half of the 20th century , and cites virtually " all his catalog of works " as " a powerful discoveration [ sic ] , and a true revelation " ( Éloy 2008 ) . 
