RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Henri DUTILLEUX (b. 1916)
D’Ombre et de silence - Complete Piano Music:
Petit air à dormir debout (1981) [1.33]; Sonate (1946-48) [24.35];
from Au gré des ondes (1946): I. Prélude en berceuse; III. Improvisation [5.07];
Blackbird (1950); Tous les chemins … mènent à Rome (1961) [13.08]; Résonances
(1965); Figures de résonances (1970/76) pour deux pianos I-IV; Mini-prélude
en éventail (1987); Préludes: I. D'ombre et de silence (1973); II. Sur un
même accord (1977); III. Le jeu des contraires (1988) [15.03]; Bergerie (1946)
[1.06]; Au gré des ondes (1946): I. Prélude en berceuse; II. Claquettes; III.
Improvisation; IV. Mouvement perpetuel; V. Hommage à Bach; VI. Étude [7.27]
Robert Levin (piano); Ya-Fei Chuang* (piano)
rec. December 2008, Radio Svizzera, Lugano
ECM NEW SERIES 2105 (4763653) [75.31]
This is not the first disc to come out in recent years devoted to the intoxicating
world of Henri Dutilleux’s piano music. Some of you may have access to an
enterprising release in the Naxos ‘Laureate Series’ with pianist John Chen;
it came out in 2006. Several items are repeated: the Piano Sonata, the Three
Preludes and ‘Au gré des ondes’. However if you are coming to this music for
the first time then do read on.
Running through the pieces in chronological order; the longest work on the
disc and the earliest in so far as the composer considers it his Opus 1, is
the three movement Piano Sonata which Robert Levin in his notes calls
a “masterwork”. I was going to start off by writing that this is the sonata
Debussy might have written had he lived. It seems to take off where the Debussy
Etudes end. But no, I then thought of changing Debussy to Ravel: the Sonata
he might have written but again no, I thought of changing it to Scriabin.
After all Russian music was quite popular just after the war. The point is
that the work is like none of these. It’s certainly not akin to the early
and contemporaneous Sonata of Boulez or any of his others. It’s too emotional
and nor is it like anything by Messiaen, Dutilleux’s other great contemporary,
it’s too sensuous and classical. By telling you what the work is not like
it might help you to understand its originality.
I cannot find much difference between Chen and Levin and I like both of their
approaches. Perhaps Chen is more expressive in the, at times, desolate middle
movement, marked ‘Lied’. Perhaps Levin grasps more of the direction in the
opening movement. Both are powerful and exciting in the brilliant finale which
sometimes stands as a one-off movement for some pianists wanting to show off.
Of the same period is Au gris des Ondes which can be translated
as ‘To the waves liking’ (or something like that). Levin tells us that
the composer did not wish to have the entire six movement suite recorded or
indeed the rather ‘folksy’ Bergerie so composer and pianist
hit upon a plan of adding them as a sort of appendix to the main thrust of
the CD after a suitable silence. Therefore immediately after the Sonata just
two movements appear of the suite, the charming rather Satiesque ‘Berceuse’
and a rather contrived little piece called, curiously, ‘Improvisation’. Of
the others, the ‘Mouvement Perpetuel’ reminded me of Poulenc and I was quite
captivated by the ‘Hommage à Bach’. Anyway, as Levin points out, other pianists
have recorded the entire suite so why shouldn’t he. Levin in fact worked alongside
Dutilleux and in an additional personal reflection tells us of their close
association since the death of Nadia Boulanger, at the Conservatoire Américain
in Fontainebleau. Consequently this CD “represents the fulfillment of a dream”
for him. It’s worth adding that these miniatures were mostly written as time-fillers
between programmes for French Radio when Dutilleux was Musical Director of
French Radio. Blackbird is such a piece with its rather
effete and bouncy atmosphere and so is the rather charming Petit air
à dormir debout with which he, rather curiously opens the recital.
Although tonality was still important to him by the 1960s he was developing
his own sound world and harmony as heard in the very brief Tous les
Chemins and even more so in Résonances where a delight
in the full range of the piano is noticeable. Chen makes even more of the
atmosphere than Levin and he does so again in the wonderful little Mini-prélude
en éventail.
The one work recorded that is for piano duet dates back to the 1970s. Figures
de résonances falls into four brief sections. Robert Levin’s
booklet notes - which throw unusual light onto the origins of much of the
music - talk about a “catalogue of resonances” quoting the composer. He brings
up the concept of a “sonic refraction between the two pianos”. The piece consists
of a series of highly polished gems. As a team the pianists work as one voice.
The Three Preludes were written at differing times. The
first ‘D’ombre et de silence’ gives the CD its overall title. It was written,
extraordinarily enough, for Artur Rubinstein. The second is also concerned
with resonance and the sheer sensual pleasure derived from sound. ‘Sur un
même accord’ is dedicated to Claude Helffer. The third ‘Le jeu des contraires’
which is a little longer than the first two put together is dated fifteen
years after the first. It is the more emotionally volatile and dramatic and
was written for a piano competition.
Altogether this is fascinating disc with two masterpieces: the Sonata and
the Three Preludes and with various intriguing chippings from the Dutilleux
workbench, most beautifully played and recorded. The booklet contains photos
of the composer and the performers and two useful essays by Robert Levin.
Gary Higginson
A fascinating disc with two masterpieces most beautifully played and recorded.