Henri Dutilleux - Symphonies No. 1 & 2

×

Henri Dutilleux - Symphonies No. 1 & 2

Close

Dutilleux’s first major orchestral work, Symphony No.1, did not appear until 1950, by which time the composer was already in his mid-thirties. This work shows for the first time some of Dutilleux’s characteristic techniques - a joy of sound itself, a love of a certain type of sonority, rich brass chords and lush (not to say very demanding) string writing (ask any double bass players that have had to find their way around the multiple divided harmonics in The Shadows of Time). Dutilleux often presents the orchestral families in blocks of sound: Symphony No2 Le Double (1959) takes the process even further by having a group of twelve players separated from the main orchestra - the influences of plainchant and big-band jazz (one of Dutilleux’s great loves) become more apparent. -David Wordsworth