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5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Schoenberg: Henri Dutilleux, 18 April 2009
This is a CD that ought to please American music-lovers as it features three works that were commissioned for American Orchestras and were premiered in America: Henri Dutilleux's Shadows of Time, written for the Boston Symphony & premiered by Ozawa at Symphony Hall in October 1997; The Second Symphony, also written for the Boston symphony, also premiered at Symphony Hall, though conducted by Charles Munch, in December 1959; and Metaboles, written for the Cleveland Orchestra and premiered in January 1965 by no less a talent than Georges Szell.
The Shadows of Time consists in five titled movements, plus an "Interlude" in between parts III and IV. Surprisingly, as the music is dedicated to the memory of Anne Franck and of all children victimized in war, the first movement revolves around a joyful theme, expressed on trumpet: is it reading too much into the piece to surmise Dutilleux might have wanted to express the insouciance of a pre-war period? (Though sure enough, one may also detect something ominous in the clock ticking its way through it).
Perhaps the highlight of the movement, however is not the trumpet, nor the clock, but the subtly surprising and immensely pleasurable change in harmony at minute 1:28, and repeated again mns 1:33: you have to be on your toes as it is over by minute 1:36 and never reappears.
The second movement starts on the same note on which the first movement ends: the composer picking up where he let go, as it were. This is a practice that reoccurs frequently in his music and contributes to the sense of unity it possesses. Dutilleux is such a moderate man, however, one has to be extra attentive to detect malevolence in a movement he has named: "Ariel Malefique!"
The third movement is legendary already, due to the compelling voices of the children singing the simple words written by the composer: "Why us, Why the Star?" The singing is compelling not only because of the message it conveys, but also because we admire the talent and the courage of the three youthful singers, playing their part in a score many adults find challenging. This movement is named "Memory of the Shadows," aptly so, as the three voices do sound like three souls, lingering at dark, in and around the plot of earth where they lost their lives.
The fourth titled part, titled "Waves of Light," is a meditation, that climaxes on an angered restatement of the descending theme upon which the first movement opens (that descending motif also appears at minute 0:59 of the second movement).
The fifth and last part, also meditative, like so much of Dutilleux's later music, drives us inexorably toward an oddly anti-climactic (though fulfilling) conclusion, a subtle, muted repetition of the note around which this movement is organized, nervously ticking its way to oblivion.
Michel Plasson never gained the celebrity his talents deserve but his conducting is superb, incisive, well delineated and sensitive: surely his is the best available production of the Shadows!
The Second Symphony is the first work of Dutilleux's maturity - but a mature Dutilleux who has not yet outgrown the symphonic form and therefore not yet learned to let his musical ideas determine the form of his compositions. Those who have spotted the occasional parallels between Dutilleux's oeuvre and Witold Lutoslawski's (as with the mysterious notes in the coda of Lutoslawski's Mi-parti and the equally mysterious notes in the fourth part of Dutilleux's Cello Concerto), may or may not agree with me that this symphony bears a some resemblance to the Concerto for Orchestra. Perhaps is this due to a common influence of Bela Bartok, perhaps it is that both composers practiced a similarly moderate, melodic and rhythmic brand of modernism, during the fifties.
Those who have introduced themselves to Dutilleux through Metaboles will be startled by something that happens at minute 5:08 at this symphony's Second Movement: an early statement of the theme upon which Metaboles (premiered six years later), begins! This is expressive of another compositional pattern of Dutilleux's, who in later works, develops ideas that had appeared briefly in earlier works.
Metaboles is, if I am not mistaken, the most famous and most often performed among Dutilleux's music (the Cello Concerto must be close in notoriety, though). The opening motive alone deserves as much celebrity as the opening parts of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Firebird & Petroushka! Speaking of Stravinsky, there is an hommage to him near the first minute of the third movement. Those who are interested in those occasional parallels between Dutilleux and Lutoslawski will rejoice in hearing tidbits of Lutoslawski's clarinets, minutes 0:15 and 3:00 of that third movement.
The fourth movement of Metaboles, named "torpid," is a subtly original piece, a meditation centered on one, one and two notes that seem to involve cornets, with accompaniement by soft percussions, the percussions at times appearing to edge toward a concertante function.
Metaboles ends as emphatically as the many emphatic endings of Lutoslawski's compositions. Maybe is there a moral to such endings: do not underestimate diminutive Poles, nor unassuming Frenchmen. They may have required help to knock out Hitler; but they sure have not needed help to knock down Schoenberg.
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