Given his distinction in the musical world, Henri Dutilleux has meagre representation in the LP catalogue and none of Compact Disc. True, Rostropovich recorded the Cello Concerto (Tout un monde lointain) with the Orchestre de Paris under Serge Baudo (EMI ASD3145, 2/76) and back in the early 1970s Ogdon gave us the Piano Sonata (EMI SLS868, 8/74) but these have long been deleted.
The First Symphony must be the most familiar, or perhaps I should say least neglected, of his orchestral works: this is to the best of my knowledge its third recording. The late Jean Martinon recorded it with the Orchestre National de l'ORTF with his own Second Symphony on the reverse (Barclay-Inedit 995028, 9/73—nla) and more recently Calliope issued it with the Lille Philharmonic under Jean-Claude Casadesus without the benefit of a coupling (CAL1861, 5/80—nla). Arnold Whittall gave the latter a rather cool welcome but having bought the Martinon version and played it often, I must confess that I have found that this symphony wears well. It dates from 1950 when the composer was in his early thirties and though one can still detect reminders of Bartok and the luxuriant textures of Roussel, Szymanowski, Messiaen and, above all, Honegger, these disparate elements are assimilated and the sound-world he evokes is still individual. It is a four-movement work which wears its craftsmanship lightly, by which I mean Dutilleux exhibits the art which conceals art: one could easily lose sight of the fact that the opening movement is a passacaglia or the finale a set of variations. This music radiates a keen mercurial intelligence and a vivid imagination. The textures are luminous, iridescent and the progress of the abundant musical ideas is alertly sustained. There is always a splendid sense of forward movement. Readers who enjoy, say, Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra will surely respond to this stimulating work.
Timbres, espace, mouvement is a more recent work dating from 1978, and the result of a commission from Rostropovich and the Washington orchestra. It takes about 15 minutes and those who are familiar with the Cello Concerto will have no difficulty in recognizing its sound-world. The playing of the Lyon orchestra is very alert and responsive, and it is obvious that they need not fear comparison with the great Paris orchestras, even if the upper strings do not have quite the same lustre or bloom, and Serge Baudo is an authoritative interpreter of this composer. The engineering is expert and the overall sound excellent, with plenty of space round the various instruments, and the balance of the recording, expertly judged. Recommended.'