CD REVIEW
– DUTILLEUX
Le Loup
Sinfonia of London | John Wilson
Chandos CHSA 5263
[56’23”]
'
On setting out to
review this release I thought it
might only be of interest to
those who are admirers of John
Wilson and his magnificent
orchestra. Henri Dutilleux
(1916-2013), although I
recognised the name, his music
was completely unfamiliar to me.
It is a small body of work
including ballet, two symphonies,
chamber, incidental and film
music (this last qualifying him
for inclusion here).
French music
specialist Caroline Potter's
booklet notes tell us that he
studied at the Paris
Conservatoire, winning the
prestigious Prix French de Rome
in 1938, and in 1943 began a
20-year career working for French
radio. And he enlisted in the
army as a stretcher bearer before
the fall of France in September
1940. Later in life he was the
recipient of a number of other
music prizes.
So, to the album.
Half its length is devoted to Le
Loup (The Wolf), a Beauty
and the Beast-like ballet in one
act and three tableaux from 1953.
Anticipating a 20th-century
composed work with a paucity of
melody even bordering on the
dissonant, I was surprised how
accessible this colourful score
is and really rather enjoyed it.
The three
remaining items are all premiere
recordings of Kenneth Hesketh's
2019 orchestrations of Sonatine
pour Flûte, Sonate pour
Hautbois and Sarabande
et Cortège, written for the
Paris Conservatoire in the 1940s,
showcasing the stellar soloists
of the Sinfonia: flautist Adam
Walker, oboist Julian Koch and
bassoonist Jonathan Davies. Like
the major work, I found that the
music kept me involved and the
whole orchestral sound is
dazzling.
Even if it may not
appeal to everyone, I reckon that
with their fifth Chandos album JW
and the SOL are on to another
winner that will earn them plenty
more well-deserved plaudits.
Sample it online
if you can and you may be
encouraged to join some
celebrated major musicians –
presumably including John Wilson
– and now this reviewer
(neither celebrated nor major) in
appreciating the works of M
Dutilleux, remembered in The
Guardian as "one of the
gentlest and most charming of
men, with a delightful sense of
humour … also inexhaustibly
kind".
© Peter
Burt 2021
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