# SS 13.07.19 - Dutilleux #1



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening! 
_*
*For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Henri Dutilleux*__*(1916 - 2013)*

Symphony No. 1
1. __Passacaglia
__2. __Scherzo molto vivace
__3. __Intermezzo
__4. __Finale con variazioni__

Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!_


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Another weekend is upon us and another Symphony is up for your listening enjoyment. Thanks to Cougarjuno for filling in during my absence last week. I had a lot going on, but I'm back this week.

And, this week it's French composer Henri Dutilleux's First Symphony. I think I've only heard this one once before so I'm looking forward to giving it a spin. I hope everyone can give this one a spin and I hope everyone has a good weekend.

I'll be listening to this one:

View attachment 121273

Daniel Barenboim/Orchestre De Paris

For those without a recording I'm providing a YouTube link:




Roger Albin/Orchestre National de l'ORTF


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I finally have a weekend to indulge in a Saturday Symphony! I'm listening to this one.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

for me:


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I have Morlot/Seattle so I'll listen to it. Welcome back, RDB.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall give this version a try


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've always enjoyed this one. I have 3 or 4 recordings but I'd recommend the Tortelier on Chandos.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

KenOC said:


> for me:


I have this one in my collection so it is my choice


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ Me too..... and also from my collection.


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

Love both the first and second symphonies. The Tortelier/Chandos disc was my introduction to this composer, but lately I've been enjoying the Naxos issues of the symphonies.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I bought this disc for Tout un monde lontain after hearing it in concert. Hans Graf and the Bordeaux Aquitaine do a fine job not only with the Symphony no. 1 on this disc but also with Dutilleux' works in the entire Arte Nova series. Apparently Graf has worked closely with Dutilleux.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Mine's the Tortelier Jnr. set too. An interesting composer, but really hard to pigeon hole!


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## sbmonty (Jan 11, 2014)

My first time listening.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Another listening to the Tortelier Chandos disc, this is a disc I've had since it first came out and is one I go to often - if I had to choose I prefer the second symphony but both works are pleasing to my ear.

Great to have an excuse to listen to the disc again.

View attachment 121305


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

A fine symphony and one I have left on the shelf for a little too long. I played it through twice.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

This symphony was new to me, and I listened all the way through twice. Obviously it’s music of the highest technical quality with imaginative and sometimes even astonishing orchestration. There’s a lot going on, and my attention never flagged (except maybe a tiny bit in the third movement). The music is constantly changing and is interesting almost everywhere.

The only downside, and maybe it’s only me, is that there’s little that “resonates,” that sticks in the mind for later playback. The notes to my recording say that Dutilleux is clearly in the line of Debussy and Ravel, and I guess that’s true stylistically; but their best music sticks, and certain well-remembered passages seem like old friends when they roll around – I listened to La Mer today, for example, and it certainly has many such passages. In that, this Dutilleux symphony seems on a different and lower level.


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## MrMeatScience (Feb 15, 2015)

KenOC said:


> This symphony was new to me, and I listened all the way through twice. Obviously it's music of the highest technical quality with imaginative and sometimes even astonishing orchestration. There's a lot going on, and my attention never flagged (except maybe a tiny bit in the third movement). The music is constantly changing and is interesting almost everywhere.
> 
> The only downside, and maybe it's only me, is that there's little that "resonates," that sticks in the mind for later playback. The notes to my recording say that Dutilleux is clearly in the line of Debussy and Ravel, and I guess that's true stylistically; but their best music sticks, and certain well-remembered passages seem like old friends when they roll around - I listened to La Mer today, for example, and it certainly has many such passages. In that, this Dutilleux symphony seems on a different and lower level.


This is pretty much exactly how I felt about it -- but that orchestration is really astonishing, isn't it? Dutilleux has always impressed me in that regard. I thought the passacaglia was pretty striking, but now a few days on I don't think I remember anything distinctive about the rest of the symphony. Some of his later works are much more memorable.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't think I remembered much about La Mer after one of two listens other than it was different from the German and Russian music I heard earlier. But I can't vividly recall much of modern music in my mind's ear. I have to go back and listen again which is one of the attractive aspects of this music. And it can be the same with Haydn too.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

starthrower said:


> I don't think I remembered much about La Mer after one of two listens other than it was different from the German and Russian music I heard earlier...


That's quite true, and perhaps I'm being a bit unfair. Maybe if I heard the symphony a few more times, it would stick in my memory much more than it does now!


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Dutilleux's music is well worth exploring in different recordings. I'm glad there are now several choices by which to hear his major orchestral works. Don't settle for hearing only one and making all judgments because of it. The composer is a master orchestrator and conductors (and orchestral players) have many options with his music, as to how to emphasize or what to emphasize.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Ten years ago there wasn't a whole lot of his music out there but now there are at least five box sets. I've never listened to the Barenboim symphony recordings in the Erato box I have. I like the Hans Graf on Arte Nova.


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